Take Care
by FireworksShow
Summary: Summer's back and while some things have changed, some will always be the same. After Reckoning 1x22
1. Back on Business

**A/N: First fanfic about Revenge. It's more about their thoughts, so it may feel a bit of OOC but I hope not. I do ship Daniel/Emily so this will be most about them.**

* * *

It was almost summer again and things had changed so much from what they were a year ago. She knew that she probably was the one to be blamed for most of the things that happened on the past year. But things only seemed to have really changed on the past few months. So much had happened: discovering that her mom was alive, Victoria's plane blowing up and her not confirmed death, Charlotte's overdosing…

She really didn't know where to start to look for her mom, she had made her research but didn't have any luck with that, so she just got some people of NolCorp into that; Victoria turned out to be alive and Charlotte's situation had gotten handled, she was in rehab right now.

But with the approaching of summer, he was back. He was finally back. Daniel had gone to the city a week after they broke up and especially after all that happened on his family that day, he had no motives to stay at the Hamptons.

She had gone a few times to the City on the past months. She always made some excuses about the reason she needed to go there. But it was just to check up on him. She hated to admit even for herself but she cared about him and wanted to be sure that he was fine. She felt bad for Daniel, for the way things ended between them and for everything that happened later that night. It was a long night for all of them that led to special long days for the Graysons.

She had a lot to think during these months. Especially about her feelings. When she believed that there were no more doubts on her head, everything turned into a mess again. Now she missed Daniel and the excuse of him "turning into a Grayson" sounded, more than ever, all it was: an excuse. She tried to convince herself of this, just liked she spent her whole life convinced that she was meant to be with Jack, that she loved him.

But did she? This thought is what made her sane all the years that she spent planning her Revenge, because it was everything that she could take for granted about her future, everything else was uncertain. She had never had the experience of something other than what she idealized of Jack. Until Daniel.

He was nothing like she expected him to be. He was supposed to be the easier part of her plan but she couldn't be more wrong. When she realized, it was too late. She cared about him and their relationship. But she didn't want to. It was not what she had planned, and it was making everything harder for her. So when he chose to side with his dad, she was convinced that things would be like they supposed to be from the start.

Again, she was wrong. Daniel never changed with her; he always was the sweet boy that didn't make a big deal of a stain on his jacket. Even when she pushed him into an argument he would try to turn things to their good place again. She didn't even bother to talk to him after the interview - and they used to talk about everything -, because she was afraid. If she asked why he was acting that way about his family and he gave her a good reason she would probably buy it, because he must have some good reason for change like this. But if she heard it from his mouth everything would be lost again. And she hated the feeling of not being in control of everything that surrounds her.

Except that now she was in a lost place again, and was missing having him by her side. It would be easier if she had his smile every morning over breakfast. She'd read some rumors that he and Ashley were having something but all the times that she went to the city he was alone so she had no idea of where they came from.

Now he was just down the beach and it made her more comfortable. She would pass in front of Grayson manor everyday on her morning runs and by the time of the sunset she'd sit on her porch swing with a cup of tea to often catch Daniel standing on his mother's observatory looking at her. It'd make her smile and sleep a bit better at night.

Nolan was always checking up on her, he would call at least three times a day and drop by sometimes. Some of his calls had the excuse of "updating her on the ongoing investigation about her mother" but she knew that if something came up from that, Nolan would show up at her porch as fast as he could. She was fine with that, if it wasn't for Nolan, she would have almost zero contact with people. So when the news that the Graysons had arrived town came to his ears, the first thing he did was call Emily.

"So, how's everything down the beach?" He asked on his curious tone.

"I don't really know." She was being honest, "I've only seen Daniel, but not a word was said. He keeps coming to the observatory to check up on here."

"Memorial Day is just around the block, Ems. You must get yourself ready to face everybody again."

He still was worried as to how she would handle herself when the summer got back, she was just like her infinity box: full of surprises.

"I'm actually looking forward to that. It's been so long, and I'm not sure where things are standing right now." She's actually smiling while she says that.

"I do notice your subtle excitement over that. Does it mean that we're back on business?"

He sounds excited as well, those months weren't easy. He was losing his hopes on doing something to cheer Emily up but she always had her own plans and thoughts that she wasn't interested on sharing.

"Yes, we are. "


	2. Old Habits Don't Die Soon

Daniel wasn't sure why he had to check up on her so many times during the day. A part of him was just curious; he hoped to see Jack dropping by but for now, not a sign of him. It made him happy, he didn't know what kind of stupidity he could do if he saw the two.

Every morning the first thing he did was go out to the observatory to see her sitting on her porch swing drinking her morning coffee. Missing her was an understatement, he missed how she'd calm him down hugging him, how she'd listen to him, how she seemed to be the only person that he could truly open up to. When he said that no one had made him feel that way, he meant it.

He could've gone to her house and try to make amends. He wanted to. But this wasn't going to happen. Besides the "Jack factor", he couldn't say that she was wrong when she said that they both are different persons now. It wasn't something that he could avoid, that he could just let it go, he was trapped.

At the same time that he really wants to be a different person that his last name says he's, he can't just turn his back to his family. Not when his freedom is linked to something that they've done and when, for the first time on his life, his father is being the most honest person with him. It's not like he agrees with everything that went on all those years, but he can understand when his father says that everything that he's done was to protect their family, he believes on it. Mostly because the first feeling that he got after he found out about the truth was exactly this: the urge to protect the ones that he loved. But he couldn't ask Emily to be involved into all of this, he knew that the rabbit hole was way deeper, he was hoping that she could stay out of it, somehow she understood what was going on with him and that by the time they got married, those things were managed like they've been before. In the end, all of this just pushed her to Jack's side, and if it was what she wanted, he wasn't going to be the one that would disagree.

Anyway, old habits don't die soon. While he kept checking on her from the observatory, she kept running past the Grayson manor during her morning runs. And even if they still got teams looking for his mom they'd throw her Memorial Day party just like every year. He wouldn't agree with it but again, it was the party that he met Emily and Ashley said it would be good to the company's image.

The company's image. It wasn't pretty these days, not like it was a year ago, for sure. So when he read on that morning's paper the "rumor" about him and Ashley he just tried to ignore it. After all, he knew exactly all the words that were printed there, it was Ashley herself who wrote them and send to the paper. They needed to build a story after the ones about the break up were all over the place and Daniel was the one to be blamed for it, he was the party boy and she was just the lovely girl next door.

Ashley wasn't doing it because she was sorry about what happened and didn't want anyone bothering Emily with those stories. She had her own interests in mind and she knew that her services were going to be needed more than ever. He couldn't blame her, actually. She had proven to be loyal to the company and today it was everything that he was looking for. He knew how bad things could get nowadays with the lack of loyalty – look what happened to his mom.

There was another reason he wanted to just go to Emily's porch in the mornings. He needed someone who understood his relationship with his mom, all the differences that they were having lately… And now his mom was missing and he had no one to talk about it. He could talk with his father but they were never this close and his situation was nothing better than Daniel's.

Shortly after Emily went inside her house that evening Daniel did the same to find out that Ashley was looking for him downstairs.

"Daniel! I thought nobody was home. I need someone to check the guest list for tomorrow party." She said as soon as she saw him coming down the stairs.

"How many people do we have this year?" For him, this party wouldn't even happen but since it was confirmed he was playing along as he checked a list full of people that he honestly doesn't care about.

"Not as much as last year's. But giving what happened recently, I think we'll have a good attendance." She was proud of the work she had been pulling as Grayson Global's RP, even if it meant going back to party planning.

There. The name he was searching for: Emily Thorne. She was going, after all. Now he had a real motive to look forward to the weekend instead of just pretend that everything was ok when it wasn't. He would see Emily face to face for the first time since they broke up. He was still hurt and it was kind of masochist of him since Jack would probably be there as her plus one but he felt like he needed this.

"Everything seems ok to me, Ash. You're doing a great job as always. Thank you." He said as he gave her iPad back.

"It's really nothing Daniel, it's actually my job. Now if you excuse me I need to give this list to the head of security, have a good evening." With that, she disappeared through the doors.


	3. Rumors

The party looked exactly the same as all the other ones: a lot of people on couture clothes faking smiles to people that they despise with a good amount of alcohol on their hands. This was almost a summer routine in the Hamptons and unlike last year, Emily was already recognized by the other guests. People were still trying to guess why she had broken her engagement with Daniel and the fact that she was now attending the Graysons party made the whispering grow behind her back.

She was trying to pay attention to the guests that she had never seen. For her, everyone now was part of the conspiracy that framed her father. Nolan said that she was more of a sociopath than ever after spending a good amount of time alone at home but it was inevitable to feel that way. Things got bigger than she ever expected them to be.

Her head was working like crazy again, just like it was last year. Things were calm for the last months so she knew that the storm was about to break again it was just a matter of time. She was almost lost into her world when something made her lose all the focus that she had.

Her eyes had met Daniel's that from a corner was staring at her. She could spot the same hurt that were into his eyes the last time they met. She broke their eye contact when she started to walk in his direction. It was pretty clear in her mind that they would avoid each other all the party but when she realized she was already standing next to him.

"So, I guess that spilling another drink all over your jacket wouldn't help me this time." She was trying to be nice with him; she couldn't bear the hurt all over his face.

"Probably not." He wasn't even looking into her eyes, it was like he was holding himself into a random spot.

"How are you, Daniel?" She really sounded worried, more than she expected to be.

"I've been worse." This time he looked at her, she was pretty sure he wanted to see how she'd react. "How are you? How's Jack?"

There. He snapped it. Now she understood why he was holding himself back so much. It was obvious.

"Well, I've been better." She looked into his eyes again, "as for Jack, the last time I checked he was fine. He's excited about the baby…"

Daniel almost spilled the water he had just drank. His eyes were widened and she was pretty sure that he had stopped breathing for a brief moment. This wasn't fair from her, she knew it, so she made sure she talked before he.

"Oh, you haven't heard. Amanda's back and pregnant." Daniel lifted his eyebrows and blinked, he sure seemed relieved. "They're expecting for this month, actually."

"Good for them. At least things worked out for someone." It was easy to see that Daniel was trying to be harsh at her, but this never was his thing. She could feel that he was uncomfortable.

"How about Ashley? Heard that you guys grew pretty close during the winter…" As much she deserved what she was getting, she couldn't let go the chance to snap it herself.

"You know, they're rumors. When those subjects are a fact you know that I talk about them myself." He was looking at her again, trying to hold himself into some reaction.

Emily caught the reference that he made to the time when he told the "Times" that he felt that she was "the one". It ended up being a huge thing, since it led to Daniel telling her that he was falling in love with her the same night. She couldn't keep her guard up any longer, it was too much for both of them.

"I know, Daniel." She gave him a soft smile, "you know, I hope that this place and this date give you the same good memories as they give me. I miss those times."

She was being honest. Maybe that's why Daniel was so speechless. But how he expected that she would react when he hosted a party at the same very place where they first met and where he proposed to her? She was trying to ignore it but everything around her triggered some memory inside her head. Above that, she knew that if those memories were very vivid inside her head, they were probably ten times worse for Daniel. After she realized that, she left Daniel's side. She knew she shouldn't be doing this with him but at the same time, she didn't regret of saying what she had just said. But maybe that was enough for the day. The party was close to an ending as well. So she just found Nolan by the bar and told him that she was going home but she'd call him later.

She had to rest. Once again she was letting her emotions come in her way and she still doesn't know how to manage them. It scared her since she never had to deal with something like that. While she still despised his family, she couldn't avoid caring for Daniel.


	4. A Pattern

Daniel couldn't clear his mind. The words that Emily said to him earlier were still echoing inside his head. He couldn't stop thinking why she was doing such thing to him. What she really meant by saying those things? He couldn't get an answer and it was driving him crazy.

The fact that Grayson manor was almost empty wasn't helping either. He was just wondering around the house until he saw the lights on his father's office. He wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep this night.

"Dad?" He asked while he stood on the door, "is everything all right?"

"Just like they've been lately, son." His father sounded a little more hopeless after everything that happened with Victoria, it wasn't usual of him. "Having troubles to sleep you too?"

"Like it wasn't more obvious…" Daniel laughed a little. He really was reconnecting to his father. At first, all he wanted was transparency from him but lately he found himself having late night talks with his father.

"It's not easy, right?" His father pointed a chair for him to seat, "I mean… Emily."

Daniel was a little surprised by the subject that his father had touched. Ever since he told him that she had broken their engagement off his father gave him the space he needed and never asked more than he was willing to share.

"I saw you two chatting today, son." The older man continued as he saw that his son had no answer. "I might have never said this to you but I really do like this girl. I mean, I can see why you've fallen so hard for her. She's just the type of woman that hits on the Grayson soft spot."

"Except for the fact that she pretty much prefers to see me when I'm not behaving like a Grayson." Daniel had a self depreciative tone on his voice.

"And what's exactly that?" Conrad had a glass of scotch on his hand.

"I don't know, dad. This is what I'm trying to understand. Ever since we met I've been complaining of how I want people to see me for who I'm and not for what my last name says that I'm, that I want to be more than it. And she would listen to me and advice me to do what I feel like it's right to do and I've been doing this." Daniel spoke like he was trying to understand what he was actually saying. "But then, on the engagement party, I had all set for us to elope and run away to Paris, all she had to do was say 'yes' and we'd be on the first plane out of here. Instead, she just said no. That our lives were here so we couldn't just let it go. I won't say that I accepted it, mom had just said to me that all she wanted was my last name and I was trying not to believe in it. I wanted her to prove that mom was wrong, I was so sure she was going to do that. Then, everything went down with Tyler and she was always there for me during the trial…"

"That was when I was sure that she was Grayson material." Conrad interrupted Daniel's story.

"Yes, you probably saw it better than I did. But then she started to got closer to Jack when I was on home arrested. That's actually why I violated it; I was out of my mind. But anyway, she stayed by my side, said that nothing had changed for her, no second thoughts were on her mind." He paused to take a deep breath, "but then, I had my doubts as to the way that I got free from my charges and she backed me up when I wanted to come clean on that interview… I was sick of all of your lies. But then everything changed for me, dad. When you told me those things I couldn't just spill that out of the blue, that was the moment that I understood that all this mess is above even you. Mostly, that if I said anything wrong I could bring down not only the entire family but Emily as well. But she expected me to come clean that day and I chose to have your back. I guess she never understood it and we never talked about it again. Things started to fall apart. She didn't like the idea of turning our wedding into a PR event for the company, we had a couple of fights about it and…"

Daniel closed his eyes. He had never gone through the end of their relationship like this. He had played it on his mind a thousand times, every detail that he could remember but talking out loud was a whole different experience. Conrad just let his son have his time.

"After her house got invaded I was terrified, I was feared that they'd got to her somehow, you know?" He looked at his father, who just confirmed with his head, "but then, I lost it. I lost everything. Ashley told me to ask Emily about Jack stopping by the night after. I was full of keeping secrets from her and she was keeping some of herself. When I asked her if they had kissed she just… She just confirmed it. Everything we went through just came back on me, just like what mom had said to me on the engagement party. She told me she wanted to be with me _despite_ the Grayson name, that she isn't the person that I fell in love with and that I was changing to… she was watching me become everything that I despised which is, a Grayson."

Just like if everything was happening in front of him, he had tears in his eyes again. Things didn't make sense in his head.

"And there's more," he said before his dad could say anything, "today at the party she told me that it was giving her good memories and that she missed those times."

When he finished saying this it was like even him couldn't believe in what he was saying, like if it was just absurd. Conrad took a moment to look at his son's reactions, he was still processing everything that he had just heard. His son had never opened up like this with him before, he always thought that he didn't feel comfortable enough to do so.

"First of all, let me tell you something: you're a Grayson, you've always been a Grayson." Daniel looked at his father with red eyes. "But you already are a better person than I ever was. You know why? Because you have the chance to not make the same mistakes that I did. I really am sorry for you having to live up by them. I don't regret my decisions if they were made to protect all of you, but it kills me to see things like this happening."

Conrad was choosing the right words in his head to tell his son. He felt like he had a part of blame in all that was going on in his life right now, and he wanted to be sure that he would give the best advice he had to him. He didn't want to see his son going through the same things he was having to deal right now, the boy deserved to have a chance to make things right in his life, it wasn't his fault that things were like this.

"I've seen the both of you together hundreds of times on different occasions. The kind of chemistry that you both have it's not something that you find it easily on your life. Speaking for myself, I've found it once." He laughed, giving his past relationships and affairs included, "at first, yes, I thought it was going to be like any other relationship you had. You'd get over it as fast as it started. Soon you proved me to be wrong. The way you two behaved around each other started to be like… something was balanced between you both. She gave you the confidence that you always searched for and you made her softer with the time."

"I don't see where you want to get, dad." Daniel surely looked even more confused than before.

"It's easy, son: if you really love her like I think you do, you shouldn't give up on you two. Some way or another, your paths will always find the other and when this happens you can't control it." Conrad seemed to know by experience what he was talking about. "You're attracted to each other in so many ways that you both don't know how to handle it. If you don't give up on this, it consumes you and, somehow, bothers you. Especially the other part. They love to be in control of the situation but they hate that are blindsided by this kind of relationships. So that's why they search for other people that are more… predictable. So they feel that they're in control of it. But you know what? They get bored of them, because they also like the challenge that it is to be with men like us."

"You're talking about mom, right?" Now, Daniel looked like he understood his father's point.

"Yes, son." Conrad filled up his glass again. "Don't make the same mistakes that I did. Give yourself a shot."

"Anyway, look at you and mom lately. You've been to each other's throats!" it wasn't easy for Daniel to look up at his parent's relationship.

"That's what happens when you let your lack of self confidence take over. We tend to make stupid things that push them away of us and sometimes, it's too late to get it back. But you can still try." He played with the amber liquid inside his glass hopelessly staring at it. "I really hope that this helps you son."

"Well, I can't assure you." Daniel got up of the chair he was sitting. "But I do hope the same thing. Thanks, dad."

He could relate with the things that his father had just said to him in some ways. He wasn't exactly like his father, just like Emily wasn't like Victoria. But he could see the pattern that his dad talked about. Except that probably didn't help with his insomnia and that house was suffocating him. He needed to go outside and the sound of the waves crashing always helped him.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews :) A little longer chapter but I really like this one, somehow I see that their relationship is close to Conrad/Victoria's so, who's better to give him advice than his own dad?**


	5. An Unexpected Surprise

Emily was going out for her morning run when she noticed someone sitting on the beach near by her house. The dark hair and the prominent back were easily recognizable, what really caught her attention was the motive that he was there this early on the morning. This was unusual of him, the sneaking out early was her thing, he'd usually sleep a bit longer. Then, it hit her. He did those kind of things when he was drunk. She cursed herself mentally for having such weird talk with him at the party. She went to her kitchen and poured two cups of tea and got out to the beach. He didn't even noticed when she got next to him, until she put the cup in front of his eyes.

"It's your favorite." She was getting herself ready. She knew that it could be tricky to interact with him when alcohol had taken over his blood.

He took the cup and hold it with both of his hands before sipping the warm liquid to just after that look at her. He indeed looked like he had spent his night awake.

"It really is. Thank you." He gave her a little smile.

She was impressed, he doesn't sounded drunk at all. Not even his breath had the smell of alcohol. He was completely sober.

"What are you doing here this early?" She sat beside him and looked at the horizon.

"I wanted to see the sunrise and I've hear that this is…" Emily completed his words with him, "the best spot on the beach to do so."

"Yes, I've heard that too. Not overrated at all, I must say." She smiled.

The both remained silent while they observed the day begin in front of them. The moment was broke when, a few minutes later, Daniel rested his cup on the sand and turned to Emily.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Emily was surprised by his question.

"Doing what?" She looked as much confused as he was.

"This." He said like it was obvious. "Months ago you told me that you weren't the person that I fell in love with. That I was turning into a Grayson and that pretty much meant that we couldn't be together anymore. You cheated on me."

He didn't sound angry or anything, nothing like at the party. He sounded like the Daniel that she met a year ago. Someone who wasn't sure about his life and that needed to be understood. Just like a year ago, he had come to her to open up. She was listening to him because she knew that it was everything she had to do at that moment.

"I thought that I wasn't good enough for you. Somehow I had failed on the only thing that I had committed myself into for a long time." He was looking into her eyes, "I've spent a lot of time trying to find out the exact moment that I've lost you. I couldn't quite figure it but I understood that we didn't talk to each other anymore. Almost like if we've lost our trust in each other. I don't really know what it was, I'm making assumptions so that it gets clear on my mind."

She could see that he was still thinking what to say. She liked his expression when he did this, it showed how careful he was with her understanding of the situation.

"I've spent a lot of time telling myself that you were gone. My life was going on with or without you, it wasn't like I had the chance to stop it and choose. But, now, you are here and there you're acting like it was nothing. And I don't really know how you feel about it."

His words kind of touched her. This was one of the moments that he caught her off guard. She wasn't expecting anything like this. He was asking her to open up for him, something that she was never able to do without letting out something that she wanted to keep inside.

"I still think that you've changed, Daniel. I must confess that I don't really know why such thing happened. But, to be honest with you, it wasn't because of this that I decided to give your ring back. I know that you're a better person that your last name says about you, I knew it from the moment that I spilled my drink over your jacket." She was trying to go over everything inside her head, to make a way that things made sense, "but I think that I felt lost in the middle of everything. Suddenly, you were there doing everything for the company and I couldn't quite figure the motives that led you to do this. I felt like you were keeping me outside a part of your life that was turning out to be a huge deal. I tried to get over it, but it was getting harder every day. Then Jack came along, I was unguarded and let the moment take me and when I was aware of myself we were kissing."

For any reasons, this time Daniel didn't look hurt with the story. He seemed to be engaged in having it resolved.

"I questioned myself about having second thoughts. A lot went through my mind, especially the part that you were obviously keeping something from me. We were always honest with each other, we swore that things would be this way and by that moment we had secrets." She liked the story that she came up with. It wasn't all true but she could live with that. "I felt like if I gave you back your ring I was being honest with our relationship and so I did that. But when I got to know that Amanda was pregnant, I felt like I was being selfish. I couldn't bring myself to have something with Jack when I wasn't sure about you and me. This was big for me. I've spent all these months processing my feelings and the most recurrent one was the one who missed you."

She smiled at him and the sight of his face. She couldn't deny that she had somehow fallen for his eyes, even if they didn't even know everything about her.

"You have to understand that I've never been on a relationship like we had, Daniel. It scared me in so many ways. I was never sure what I should expect of it, you kept on surprising me and there were times that I wasn't sure if I could hold into it." There, now she was letting out more than she should. "But then when I stopped to really think it over, I'd realize that it was too late to go back, I already cared so much about you and things were just… natural between us. We have this chemistry that I can't explain what it is but it makes me think that I'll never be able to get over you."

Daniel was smiling at her after she said that. She didn't know how she felt about it right now. What she had just done wasn't like her while, on the other hand, it was the right thing to do at that moment.

"I can't really tell you everything that's happening right now with me. Things are too messed up and I can't just bring it for you to accept it and let it go. I know that they probably aren't the right things but they're above all of us and I do fear bringing you into this. I guess that I just hoped that you'd trust in me and that those things would just get past us before we got married. It wasn't what actually happened." He smiled at her, "but I'm really glad for all the things you've said."

He stood up and left. She was trying to understand what he was doing it was nothing like she predicted to be. Again, he was surprising her and she wasn't sure whether it was good or bad.


	6. Darker Place

He couldn't ask her to come back, he still had his pride and wasn't sure if Emily really understood what was going on his life. Nothing had really changed on it since they broke up, he still had to take care of the company's image and it had brought problems for them in the past. They both missed each other but he needed to be sure that Emily wanted him back and when – and if – she proved it to be right he wanted to be sure that all his problems were solved. If it meant that they would have to take their relationship from the beginning, he would do it without rushing anything.

He was holding on to her words, they made him feel less hurt. Even if he thought that maybe, he'd never be the same guy that she met a year ago. So much was happening and they were asking him for a change in the way he saw things, he couldn't be so naïve anymore. He _felt_ like he was in a darker place and saw no way out of it. Learning how to deal with this was a challenge for him, even if he tried to not go deeper on his actual state of mind, he often found out himself doing things that he never imagined before. This would make him question almost everything.

While on the company he had to put on a mask of the business man that he was becoming, when he was on his own he'd often find himself more alone than ever. He was never used to that, his life was always full of people surrounding him just because it was worth it. He'd captivate people with his charming looks and smile. But now it all seem forced, every step he took had to be thought over and over just to check if it'd have any further consequence. He always had hated it but now he was used to it being a part of his life.

Before, the same thing had crashed him. The pressure to not show his flaws, to be seen as a role model only brought him closer to the alcohol. It felt like an excuse to let himself be free and do the things he wanted to do. It was no good, actually. After everything that went down by the end of the winter he had almost given up on the booze again the only thing that kept him on doing so was the fact that he no longer had an excuse to be drunk most part of his day. It would be completely selfish of him if he did such thing now that the truth was exposed to him. He was being forced to man up and to take a concrete position. This would torment his mind every day. Every morning he would ask himself why he pulled the trigger that night. After that he never was one hundred percent sane, something was always haunting him. He felt more vulnerable than ever but he wasn't allowed to show it.

There was other motive why he doesn't go straight forward to Emily's arms. If he's with her, it's other vulnerability of him. He still had his doubts if she could accept that he wasn't the same and if she pulled the right strings on him, he would fall apart. All the character that he have made of himself would be destroyed by a few words of her just like some words of her just helped him to built another layer of his "poker face" few months ago.

She would _always_ be his soft spot. If she asked, he would move mountains for her. That's why it was so hard to keep all those things from her and while he adapted himself to the new persona he'd have to be they ended up creating a distance between them just because he made the choice to keep her away from this. He didn't regret it at all though it was the only thing that he was sure of all these months.

But there was no more Paris for them. He couldn't hide anymore. He had to take control of his own life otherwise people would keep on using it against him. Sometimes, he allowed himself to be naïve again. When he was alone at the pool house he would pick the album that Emily gave him on his birthday and just drown into the memories of those pictures and poems, nobody had to know that and if anyone saw him in those moments would probably see someone that wasn't even sure who he was anymore. And just as vulnerable as the day he was arrested.

Then again, he couldn't find a way out of this vicious circle that he put himself into and that was consuming him.


	7. Decisions

Emily was going through the new information that Nolan had sent her later that morning. The research on her mom was coming back with lots of loose ends. It was obvious that she was living under some aliases. But that was all they got until now. Random names and places. She was trying to arrange them in a way that made sense. But at that point, two names were at the same place, at the same time.

She couldn't focus on what she was doing. She was just pretending that she was putting all her effort on it because, right now, it kind of was more important than anything in her mind. But she had so much in her mind right now that she didn't even know where Bosnia or Brazil were. Her thoughts were a lot closer to home. Actually, right down the beach.

She had never really thought about Daniel's situation. He seemed a lot more relieved after they talked earlier but still, she could tell that something was bothering him. At first for her, it was unacceptable that he let the things that Conrad told him let go that way. She forgot to behave like she was clueless about all those things and suddenly everything was mixed up. But she couldn't bring herself to be cold about Daniel's feelings. It was the plan, it sure was since the beginning. She failed every single time that she tried to do so. Emotions were tricky for her. She would deny them as long as she could, but at some time they would come back to her all at once.

She wasn't going to move forward on what she was doing that way. She had to give herself some answers. For it, she went on all the recordings from her bugs on Grayson Global that were related with Daniel, but nothing really came up. She could tell that he wanted to be aware of the things that were happening, but so much was still kept from him. Anyway, he supported his father. It still wasn't enough. She wanted to know the inside and only Nolan could help her with that.

"Nolan, I you need to get me into a Grayson Global's computer." She said as soon as he picked up his phone. "Check the information on your email."

"Ems, since the SEC investigation, they're packed on firewalls. You'll be walking into a dangerous area." Nolan was trying to have the sense that usually lacked on Emily. "You can be putting a huge red flag on top of your head if you do one false step."

"I know this, Nolan." She was impatient. "Can you do this or not?"

"You already have remote control of… Oh, Daniel's computer. I'm… surprised." He was staring at his computer. "What he did this time?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out. Call you later, Nolan." She hung up before Nolan started another one of his interrogatories.

She went over his files trying to find something substantial. Most of them were just data of the accounts that he was managing and all of them were the minor ones. Nothing really involved him with The Americon Initiative. He probably was closer than ever to them when she faked the house breaking. After that, Conrad got scared on involving him more.

She put her fingers on her temples. Everything was coming back at her. If Daniel was in the position that he's right now, she had a part to be blamed. She pushed him to the eye of the hurricane when he wanted to stay away of it. The funny thing is that now she wanted him far away from this whole mess.

She knew that this was just wishful thinking. Since she wasn't giving up on her revenge plan – but, yes, having to take new positions – she didn't want Daniel to suffer collateral damage and it was easier for her to prevent this with him by her side.

She was about to do something that she had never even considered doing: Going after Daniel. She couldn't admit that she was getting way too emotional with this whole thing. So, for any matter, it still was part of her plan. Just like it always have been. She wasn't lying to herself after all, things were easier when she was with Daniel and she had more control of her feelings. It would help her on having a focus, which was good since she couldn't find any lately. She had finally found a goal and she was glad.

It reflected when Nolan showed up on her door later that night. She knew that he was going to do this since she hasn't actually called him like she said she would. But she wasn't annoyed at the fact that he'd probably throw a lot of questions at her. She was confident.

"What's going on, Emily?" Now, Nolan wasn't that calm.

"A lot, actually. But you know most of it." She wasn't making a big deal of it.

"What about the things that I don't know? Like… hacking Daniel's computer?" She found funny how Nolan would behave when he wasn't inside everything. Sometimes, she made that on purpose.

"I have to know what he knows and what he's doing on the company." Still, she said it like it wasn't big news. "Especially if I'm going to invest on our relationship."

Nolan's expression was priceless. He reacted just like if she had just said something absurd. But she was enjoying her new path.

"What?" He finally managed to say something. "What about Jack?"

"I think that this is pretty simple, Nolan. He's having a child. With Amanda." She said it in a clear way. "I'm no home wrecker."

"What about the puppy love you two share?" He still wasn't understanding what was going on.

"Is it love, Nolan? Do I know what this is? Because I'm not sure." Now, she sounded more annoyed. "I'm sure that I don't want him to be hurt by my issues and Amanda promised me that she'd protect him. He's the only live memory that I have from my childhood but he doesn't know me. He knows Amanda, the nine year old girl that spent her summer in this house more than a decade ago that was his friend but then, was taken away and left her dog with him. He has found memories of that girl but he doesn't even know half the things that happened after that."

She took a deep breath. It was a big change for her, but she learned to accept it. If they were together by now, it was her fault mostly. And the fact that she observed such thing happen without taking any direct action to avoid it made her question herself.

"Jack is a good guy and he deserves to be happy, Nolan. You know he does." She wasn't annoyed anymore. "And I still have a lot to take care of."

"But Daniel… you care for him, right?" Nolan sounded like he had accepted what Emily had just told him.

"I can't say that I don't."

He couldn't quite read her expression but he knew that she was telling the truth.

* * *

**A/N: This is probably the most OOC chapter that I've written so far. But Emily's character is a little bit tricky to write and I do hope that something like this ever happens (ahahaha!) but to get the story going on I do keep in my mind that everything that happened on the season finale made her to think over somethings, so that's why she's more careful with her moves. She learned somethings on the past year.  
**

**And, I forgot to say it a few chapters before so I'll say it now: When I started writing this story, I didn't have a title for it. And couldn't bring myself to think about one decent. So, it's directly related to Drake's song "Take Care" (which I do think that kind of relates to them).  
**


	8. A Good Night

On the following morning, Emily had all her _modus operandi_ established. It was usual of her to preview all her actions towards some event in her head, she had grown to be like this. It made her feel like she had control over things and especially over herself.

She needed Daniel to trust in her again and for this, she had to make all the right moves. It meant that she had to give him a chance on dealing his own way with every kind of information that was given to him. She couldn't raise her expectations like she did on the past, it was what brought them apart. She had reached to a point where she couldn't fake her disappointment when he chose to have his father's back and after this, it only took one step away to bring everything apart.

It wasn't easy to balance those things. Especially when she had her feelings clouding her mind every now and then. She was getting experienced on this thing of becoming emotional out of the blue but it still felt new most of the times. And she hated it.

If she didn't care that much for Daniel, at first, the fact that he chose to "be a Grayson" wouldn't change anything. But no, instead, she had built high expectations for him. Like if he really could abandon his family after everything he had been through. Now, she had to deal with the mess she made.

That morning he wasn't on the observatory when she got out to the porch. Later, when she was coming back from her run, she saw his car coming into the Grayson manor entrance. It was when she decided it was time to pay him a visit.

She opened his drawer on her bedroom. She had never opened it since they broke up and neither had him come back to pick up his clothes. Somehow, they needed to be returned and it seemed the best opportunity to do so.

She carefully organized his things in a box. Even a note she wrote him a while ago saying that she went for a swim but didn't want to wake him up that, for some reason, he had kept.

The sun was almost down when the Grayson's maid opened up the door for her saying that she was going to call Daniel. She put the box on the floor of the hall. Usually, she'd get in from the back directly to the pool house where she'd certainly find Daniel but, now, the right thing to do was come from the front door.

When she heard footsteps approaching and turned ready to see Daniel, she found Conrad that was almost as surprised to see her there than her to meet him.

"Emily… That's a surprise."

"I found some of Daniel's things at home and thought that he might miss them."

"And I hope you're staying for dinner." He said in an almost cheerful tone.

Before Emily could answer, Daniel showed up looking confused.

"Emily. I wasn't expecting to see you here."

"You didn't come to pick up some of your stuff that was at my house, so I thought of bringing them here. Just in case you need any of this." She pointed to the box that was on the floor. "It's mostly clothes, but you never know…"

"And, I had just invited her to stay for dinner." Conrad pointed. "Still didn't get an answer."

"Oh, dad. Emily must have other things to do, she already did so much by coming by to drop these things." He looked at her, "you could've called me that I'd go to your house pick them up."

"It was nothing. And, as I don't have any appointments, I'd love to dinner with you."

"Great. I'll ask to put another place at table for you. Dinner must be served soon." Said that, Conrad left the hall.

"You know that you don't have to stay, right?" Daniel said as he grabbed the box.

He still wasn't used to Emily being nice to him again. He was ready to find her more distanced than ever this summer, much for his surprise she'd came with her guard down. He hasn't decided if it was good or bad for him.

"I do. But I'd just eat alone at home and your father looked like he'd insist for me to stay."

"He is a master on the art of getting what he wants, anyway."

His voice sounded emotionless. A lot different from what she expected him to be. It made her question if the best idea really was staying there this night instead of just go back to her house.

"But if you don't want me to stay…" She dropped to see how he'd react.

"It's not that, Emily. It's just that… We don't have to pretend like nothing happened." He started walking. "I'll take this to the pool house."

For a moment, she had to agree with Daniel. She was pretending like nothing happened, like things were still fine between them when they aren't. She'd have to make things up, starting from apologizing. That's why she followed him to the pool house.

"Daniel… I know exactly what happened between us and I'm sorry. I really am." She took a deep breath. "I'm trying to do things right this time."

"I'm no different than I was a couple of months ago. If I could say, I'm even more involved with the company and if this bothers you, there's nothing I can do, Emily. Not right now."

"I can live with that. I mean, we're supposed to be above this all, aren't we?"

"I don't know. I really don't know anymore. For me, it was always like this but it wasn't for you. The only thing that I asked to change on all of this was the way of our wedding was going to be, because I needed that. But everything started to fall apart and I didn't know any of this anymore."

"Can we at least let things happen naturally? We can't pretend like nothing happened just like we can't pretend that there's nothing between us. Because we both know that there is."

"I guess there's no way, right?" He smiled for the first time since she arrived. "After all, you're just right there down the beach, it makes hard for me to pretend that there's nothing."

It was just then that she spotted the photo album that she made him for his birthday on his nightstand. Without even knowing, she softly smiled at it. Noticing that, Daniel followed her gaze to see the open page with a photo of them smiling at each other while Daniel was hugging her. They stood there, in silence until one of the maids came to tell them that the dinner was served.

It was awkward to sit at the table with just Daniel and Conrad and even more to sit facing Daniel while Conrad was at his usual place, at the top of the table. No one knew what to talk about afraid of stepping on eggs even so, Emily was urging to question some things.

"So… how's Charlotte?" She asked knowing that this might be a tricky subject.

"She's actually getting really better." Conrad answered with a smile. "Her situation was really delicate after the overdose, but we're expecting her to spend a weekend here with us this summer."

"That's really great. I felt relieved when I heard that she was getting better." Well, that was true.

"And Daniel was away visiting her. Got back today, actually."

So, she already knew from where he was coming when she saw him arriving this morning.

"She's doing great. So much better than she was, now she's having real therapy and it's not inside her downward spiral anymore." He sounded happy and proud that his little sister was safe and getting better.

Emily smiled at him. Those are the moments that she could see that even with all the dark layers that insisted on coming up, he still was sweet inside. He'd truly care for everyone around him, even if it hurt him. He wanted the best for the people he cared about.

"How you spent those last months, Emily?" Conrad asked, trying to make the conversation flow.

"I actually just stayed here. I guess I just needed somewhere quiet to be. So I took care of some meetings in the city a few days and would come back here. It was the best thing that I could have done."

"I wish I could have done this." Conrad said in an ironic way.

Emily was controlling herself not to ask the next question that came to her mind, but she just couldn't keep it.

"Don't take me wrong but… Any word on Victoria? I heard that the plane's case isn't closed."

"You were basically family, Emily. I guess it's natural of you to ask this." Conrad said as it was the most natural thing ever. "It's true, it's not closed yet just like they didn't confirm any deaths. So we just assume that she's alive but far from this, is on the hands of the FBI since Victoria was on her way to give her statement against me in DC. For the moment she stepped into that plane, she got into the witness protection as well, so pretty much everything about the investigations is secret. Even for her family."

She was looking forward the upset tone on his voice but there was also a kind of hurt that she had never got from Conrad all the time that she knew him. She even let it go the fact that she expected more from his answer and kept on thinking about how he really felt bad for everything that happened. It was the first time that she even considered this. She couldn't bring herself to answer such thing as the mood had become heavy after Conrad's answer.

"Anyway… are you ready for the summer, Emily?" Daniel asked trying to tone things down.

"If it's half of what last year's was… I think I'm ready."

"Because you can't expect things to be more hectic than they were last year." Conrad said with a light laugh.

Shortly after, Conrad finished his glass of wine and stood up.

"If you both will excuse me but I need to read some reports before going to sleep."

"Thanks for your invitation, Conrad."

"This house will always be open for you." Conrad said politely. "You should walk the lady home, son. It's late."

"I'll do this, dad." Daniel said while his father left the dining room. "I'm sorry for this. It must have felt awkward."

"Not a problem. After all, I was the one who accepted the invitation."

Emily was glad for the way she was managing it all. It turned out better than she expected it to be.

"I guess it's time for me to go. You must be tired after visiting Charlotte and all." She said as she left the table.

"I'll walk you home, so." He got up as well and went to stand right by her side.

"You don't need to, Daniel. It's fine."

"No, I insist. Are you ready to go?" He looked at her and while she couldn't quite figure his expression she was glad that the night wasn't over yet.

"I guess so." She smiled as they started walking to the house's back. The beach path was the easier to get to her house.

She took off her shoes right after they reached the sand. She liked the idea of walking the beach at night and Daniel just observed her.

"You'll never walk on the beach with your shoes on, will you?" He said smiling.

"No. I don't get how you can do this." She laughed at his question.

"It's easier than taking them off, actually." He shrugged.

He had his hands on his pockets all the way to her porch. When they arrived he didn't walk up the stairs, he watched her going in the door's direction from there.

"Goodnight, Emily." He said as she reached the door.

"Goodnight, Daniel." She said from there as she got her keys out of her pocket.

She stared at her keys and looked to Daniel leaving. She closed her eyes and held her keys tightly on her hands. She wouldn't think twice about what had just came on her mind just in case she regretted of what she was about to do.

"Daniel, wait!" She said as she left her shoes on her porch and got down the stairs on a quick pace.

"What…" He said as he turned back.

As soon as he turned to her, she grabbed the side of his waist and leaned to kiss him. He put a hand on the side of her cheek and kissed her back. It was obvious that both of them were looking forward to this moment as to when they got apart both stayed with their eyes closed for a moment.

"Goodnight." Emily said when they had their eyes open and smiled at him.

"Goodnight, again." He said back as he turned to left, still a little dizzy from the kiss.


	9. New Plan

Daniel was going back home trying to understand what had just happened. He still was numb by the kiss, he couldn't even hear the waves breaking on the beach. She had caught him by surprise and now he was lingering to the roller coaster of feelings that he had just experienced.

It was funny for him the way that Emily could turn him head over heels so easily and she probably knew it from the start. He was taking all the time he needed to get home so that he could at least remember how it feels like not having to care with what everyone would think about him or how this would reflect on the company's. It was all about him and what he wanted to do with his life. At least for half hour this lasted because shortly after this his cell phone rang. It was Ashley bringing him back to his reality. He took a deep breath and answered.

"Ashley. It isn't a little bit too late for you to call me?"

"Oh. Sorry, have I woken you up?" She said like she had no idea of what time it was.

"No, not at all." There he was again. The business man Daniel Grayson. "Anyway, something happened?"

"No… actually, yes. Tomorrow another rumor will be out but I can't support them anymore, Daniel. This is getting ridiculous."

For him, it was ridiculous since the moment that they shared a whole bottle of scotch after he broke up with Emily. He wished that the hangover that he had on the next day would make him forget what happened that night but no, it only gave a tragic night its perfect ending.

"I agree with you. What do you have in mind?"

"We need to become public. People need to see that you're doing your best on a hard moment… They're over just _hearing_ about it, they need to _see_ some improving." She made sure that she put emphasis on the right words. "So we can keep shut the stories of your rock bottom days not that long ago."

Another thing she always needed to be sure that he wouldn't forget: She was not doing it for free and she knew more than most of people about what happened on the ending of the winter. He had _almost_ gone back to what he was on his college days, which was true. But he didn't remember of most of it, on the other hand, Ashley did. She had taken care of pictures and anything that could come up from everything but, says her, she couldn't hold it from nowhere and she had to give something to the press in exchange. As well, receive something.

"And how do you expect to pull this?" He sounded calculated.

"Spending the summer on the Hamptons." She said cautiously. "Pretty much like you did with Emily but much more public."

It wasn't going to be like he did with Emily, if the whole thing was going to be staged. Ashley has always been a friend, even for Emily and even though that they're distanced right now, but now he was seeing much more of her ambitious side. But he couldn't judge her when he was doing pretty much the same.

"Listen, Ash. Those things aren't easy and you probably know this better than I do. Come by tomorrow and we'll discuss every detail of it, right?"

"Ok. I'll plan everything out to tomorrow."

"I'll be waiting for you. Goodnight, Ashley."

"Goodnight, Daniel."

Now he knew that things were normal in his life because he was starting to doubt it on the last few days. Emily being the person that he fell for, Charlotte getting better… It was too good to be true. Now, all he wanted was to get home and sleep, knowing that what Emily said about this summer being half of what the last one was during dinner felt more than ever like an understatement.

He was tired and couldn't remember when he felt any different from this. He would sleep just for the next day comes faster with the hopes that anything changed until then. But he already knew what waited for him on the next morning and it wasn't exciting at all.

So when he finally managed to wake himself up – with a headache worth some bottles of vodka that he didn't even drunk – it wasn't a surprise to hear Ashley's voice coming from outside, he only wished that she'd come by later. He got up and just washed his face before going out to find Ashley sitting at the breakfast table. His father wasn't there so, before facing Ashley's lists and plans, he got himself something to eat and a cup of coffee to, just then, sit there to listen what she had for him.

"So, what's your plan?" He said after sipping his coffee.

"There's a benefit ball of one of the institutions that Grayson Global supports tonight. You'll be there to announce a donation. And I'll be your plus one."

"Just that?" He really expected her to bring him a whole script to follow.

"Yes, for now. We'll start small and be reserved. You were never much a shower of your girlfriends so if it started now, it would raise some suspicions." She said like she had made a whole profile of his past relationships. "People have to believe that we've grown together in your hard times. That, somehow, I gave you the support that you needed after breaking your engagement off, your mother's plane crash and Charlotte's overdose."

Which wasn't a complete lie, he must admit. Ashley innumerous times were the only person that he had to talk with whenever he really felt like he needed. He wouldn't open up to her like he did with Emily but he still saw her as a loyal friend.

"Well, if it really is what I have to do… It's not impossible." He finally said. "Let's see what we get from it."

He really doesn't have any other choice. The PR machine of the company was his responsibility to go on and if it was what he had to do to get transparency of his father, he would do it.


	10. Safe Choice

The day had been long and she was exhausted. Nolan had gotten her going through all kinds of information he had found on everything she had asked him to search for: Victoria, her mom, Americon Initiative and Grayson Global's links… Even so, none conclusions were made that day. They were having to regroup everything they've gotten so far but, at least, Nolan was being cooperative this time and it helped her a lot.

Everything she wanted to do was sleep since she already had an appointment for the next morning: the annual polo game of the Hamptons. She would still bet on Daniel, just like she did a year ago but more than this, she couldn't hide in her house the whole summer.

She was almost ready to go to sleep when her cell phone rang one more time that day. And, again, it was Nolan.

"I hope you have something good for me, I'm about to go to sleep and I'm exhausted, Nolan." She said annoyed.

"So you haven't seen anything on the lately news, have you?"

"No. Why? There's something that I should have seen?" She said as she searched the room for her iPad.

"You better sit for this." Nolan said like he had just heard a joke.

As soon she opened up the news she saw what Nolan was talking about: _"Daniel Grayson has a new girlfriend – Is he over ex-fiancé Emily Thorne?"_ on big red capitol letters headline followed by a photo of Daniel and Ashley on a benefit event that took place that night. The whole piece had a lot of quoting from "sources" that gave their opinions whether had him gotten over Emily or not.

"What on Earth…?" Emily gasped.

"Looks like you have some more things to worry…" Nolan said before hanging up.

Emily read the article 15 times at least when she decided to look the pictures that were taken earlier that night. Daniel wasn't looking exactly thrilled to be there but, for what was worth it, it came to – apparently – confirm the rumor that was out that morning, just in the perfect timing before all of them turned somehow skeptical of Daniel already moving on from what was supposed to be "the wedding of the year". The timing was _almost_ too perfect. Enough for make Daniel's words to her when they first met this summer rush in her mind:

"_You know, they're rumors. When those subjects are a fact you know that I talk about them myself."_

On the piece there was just a tiny quote from him. When asked if that confirmed the rumors that were going on lately he had just answered "I guess so." She closed the article before she had every word memorized. Anything of that made sense for her as she hoped that he'd call those rumors out for the summer. Not because of her but because there's enough time for people forget that they're no longer together since some other rich kid must've done something that deserved a headline. Now, she had to rethink everything that she had planned for the next morning.

Before the game started that morning, she went to the stables to find him treating his horses. He was so focused that only noticed her arriving when she gave one of the horses a nice tap on its nose.

"Emily… what are you doing here?" He asked.

"I need to talk with you." She answered while she kept on admiring the horse. "What's that between you and Ashley, Daniel?"

"It is what it is…" He said coldly. "There isn't much to explain."

"Really? Because I see the PR stamp all over it." She said sharply.

"What if it is? What can I do?" He sustained the sharp tone. "What can _you_ do?"

"Until the last time I checked, it wasn't nothing like you to do such thing." She tried to tone down the conversation before they started saying things they didn't mean at each other.

"Like you said, I've changed." He wasn't looking at her. "Maybe I really am a Grayson and can't deny it."

"So you did a terrific job on convincing me otherwise last summer." She went closer to him. "Because I know that you're better than all this mess."

He took some time to answer her, thinking about what she had said. "You can't understand it. You can tell me that you miss me – and I believe – but you still can't understand." He sounded like he was saying it for himself more than he was saying for her.

"If you told me what's going on maybe I would. I was just hoping that you were keeping the promise to be honest with me, no matter what." She snapped

"I can't, ok?" He said quickly. "All I can say is that my family is messed up, and this you always knew. Maybe my father has done some things that he's not exactly proud of but he gave me his reasons. And I chose to back him up on this, because he needed me." He took a deep breath. "But you still don't trust me enough to let this go."

Daniel wasn't easy on her. It was like if he really wanted to push her away. "And Ashley understands it?"

"Let's say she does." He shrugged. "She doesn't make a big deal of it, for sure."

"So that's it?" She was annoyed. "That's what you want for your life? To live by people's expectations?" She wasn't playing fair anymore as she turned the words he had said a year ago against him.

"I guess that I don't have other choice anymore." He said as he took his horses out of the stable. "I just can't give them reasons to think less of me than they already do."

"You'll always have a choice, Daniel. You know who you really are before anyone does." She said as she started to leave as well, the match was about to start. Before Daniel burst into the field, she called him out. "By the way… You should know that I'm still betting on you, Daniel. You're still my safe choice. I'm not giving up on you."

After she ended up saying that, Daniel went for the field and Emily made her way to the VIP area. She still had the second part to deal with and she knew that it would be harder than dealing with Daniel.


	11. A Frenemy

As soon she arrived at the entrance of the VIP tent – not a thing like the naïve-looking girl that pretended to be lost a year ago – her presence took over the place. She couldn't care less for the looks that she received, she scanned the room looking for one person only. It was a sure bet that this person would be the one trying to be the center of the world today so it wasn't that hard to spot her acting like she was the queen of the world. After all, she finally had got everything she was looking for since last year.

Emily put her best lovely girl next door smile she could gather, picked up a glass of champagne from the first waiter that approached her and started walking with her gaze fixed on Ashley. Her a little bit too posh English accent was louder as Emily came closer to her back. Seeing that Emily had a clear objective there, the group that was surrounding Ashley suddenly became mute so that the girl turned to see who was causing it.

Ashley looked a little surprised but it wasn't like she couldn't expect for this to happen. Sooner or later she would have to face Emily. But what she was about to face was nothing like she knew from Emily.

"Can we talk?" Emily sounded polite and pleasant. "I think we have a lot to catch up."

This was enough of a message to the group just get lost.

"Well, Ashley… Look at you!" Emily interlocked their arms.

Ashley still looked a little perplexed but you could tell that she was recovering from the initial shock. "Some improvement from last year, right?" She tried to sound cool.

"Except that last year I could really tell that you were my friend." Emily turned to face her, looking into her eyes. "What the hell are you doing with Daniel?"

She snapped, sharply. Her day was already bad enough to keep on small talks with Ashley. She always knew that the girl was damn ambitious and that helped her – a lot – but now, she wasn't appreciating that so much.

"I also thought that you were my friend, Emily. Before you started to become a bitch with me. First it was with Tyler then, with the wedding plans. You knew how much that meant to me!" Ashley accused.

"Still doesn't explain why you're going around with my ex-fiancé." Emily said coldly.

"Well, you should know that's mutual." She said almost too full of herself for Emily. "And you should know better before giving away kisses so easily. You know that you really should check on your window panes when you do that. You never know who might be around. But it's what people say, right? One's loose, other's found."

Ashley was this close to get revengeful side of Emily. She already had her fists closed trying to control herself for not losing her cool that easy.

"It was you who told Daniel?" She said like she really felt betrayed.

"I think that he deserved to know that his fiancé was cheating on him weeks before the wedding. Just in case there were any second thoughts to be discussed." Ashley teased. "And it seems like you indeed were, otherwise, you'd still have a ring on your forth finger, wouldn't you?"

"You don't know half of the things that went on!"

"Oh, what? That you said that he was becoming everything that he despised? I know that." Ashley had that under her sleeve even if it was a low play.

"How do…?" Emily looked slightly confused.

"You should ask Daniel if this really means this much to you." Ashley was clearly winning their face off. "I don't kiss and tell."

Emily had her jaw tense as Ashley left her alone. She could not believe in what was happening but one thing was becoming crystal clear on her mind: She'd have to take Ashley down. Fast. Before she became a monster even harder to handle with. She couldn't even imagine anymore that a year ago she'd count Ashley as a possible ally.

She was already recovered from the things that Ashley had told her when she grabbed her phone and hit Nolan's speed dial.

"Will I need to get my best suit from the dry cleaning again?" Nolan said pleasantly.

"Very funny." Emily was on her revenge planning tone. "I need _everything _you have on Ashley."

"Oh, party planner not so easy on the fall?"

"No, and Daniel is engaged on doing what he has to do to back his father up." Emily said a bit annoyed.

"I don't know if I lost anything… but you asked me things on _Ashley_. It's not easier to go all the way on Prince Danny's soft spot, meaning, yourself?"

"Not exactly, Ashley has her own agenda. This is not simply helping Daniel with what he needs. She has things on him and she's not letting it go." Emily was still calculating every move Ashley made. "So if it comes to a higher point where I need to take her down… I'll do it. But I need to use something against her, more than the superficial things about her past that I already know from when we were close."

"We're going for old school taking down?" Nolan sounded excited they were spending a lot of time gathering information but nothing compared to the action they took when Emily decided it was time for someone be taken down.

"She kind of asked for that." Emily said coldly before hanging up.


	12. Honesty

She hated the feeling that she was having right at that moment: that she was losing control over everything. She couldn't predict Daniel's moves anymore and was getting blindsided by Ashley. In any perspective this could be good for her. Just when she thought that, maybe, giving Daniel his space so that he'd _naturally_ come back to her she was being forced to go after him almost in a daily basis.

Now, she was staring at her cell phone screen that showed her the text she had just typed. _"We need to talk. Please, come by later."_ Said the message destined to Daniel. But she was not sure about sending it. He'd probably ignore it and she was going to be left waiting for any answers. After thinking it over a dozen times, she just hit "cancel" instead of "send". She'd have to raise her stakes on this if she really expected to end getting what she wanted. That's why she decided that, maybe, it'd be better if she just visited the pool house later that day.

* * *

The idea just turned out to be even a better choice after she found the back gate open and that no one had arrived home already, she'd have some time to look into the pool house. She sneaked inside the room carefully enough so that none of the maids saw her – or, if any of them actually saw her, didn't really care about it – and looked around. The photo album she gave him was still on his night stand and there were some of his clothes around the room, she went through it and started looking into his drawers to see if she could find anything new but most of them were empty or filled with clothes. That was when she noticed his bag on the floor, even if it looked almost empty she decided to look into it, just in case something was missing inside it.

There, in fact, was something missing in a pocket almost hidden inside of it. A tiny black velvet box was carefully placed there. Emily took a deep breath before opening it, even if she had already guessed what was inside she wanted to be sure of it. When she opened it up to find _her_ engagement ring inside it, it hit her once again but it was getting stronger each time it happened.

It hit her how she had let herself develop feelings for him last summer and pretended like she was still in control of herself. Like she felt protective of him when he got arrested and even how upset she was after that interview. Even if something inside her waited for that moment, other part was just hoping that he could do what she expected – for once.

She put the box again on its place and gave up on the whole searching mission. It helped that a few minutes later she heard voices coming from the main house and it took only a couple more minutes for Daniel find her inside the pool house. He was still wearing the clothes from the match and had a bit of a sweat glow on his forehead. She could tell that he didn't exactly like to find her there since their last talk wasn't the most pleasant one.

"What are you doing here?" He said as he checked the outside to see if they'd remain alone.

"I really needed to talk with you." She said calmly. "I promise it'll be short, if you want to. I just need you to answer one thing."

"Ok, I'm listening." He said as he got rid of his boots.

"What Ashley meant when she told me that she knew everything that went on between us and, especially, that…" She made a brief pause, "she doesn't _kiss and tell_?"

Daniel ran his hands through his hair and she could hear him swearing under his breath. "It was stupid. I was drunk, I had just got into an argument with my mother after telling her that you had called off our engagement…" He stopped to recall what had really happened that night. "Ashley came by to tell me that she knew what had happened, because she was the one who gave me the heads up on you and Jack, we shared a few bottles of scotch – I mean, I must've drank the triple of what she had – I was upset, she was showing her support… It was stupid."

"It's just it?" Emily was still calm.

"No." Daniel looked at her. "We made out. And it could've been more, but I fell asleep. The next day I woke up to the news that Charlotte was in the ICU and that my mom's plane had blown off and I could realize how stupid I had been the night before."

"Well, thanks for your honesty. I appreciate that at least now you remember of what you promised me." Even if she didn't want to, she sounded a little upset by what he had just said. She didn't expect that he would be that fast to find some rebound.

"Cut it off, Emily. I've already gone through this with you a thousand times." He rolled his eyes. "What about you coming after me to rebound Jack? How does _it_ sound? Now that you can't be with him because of Amanda's return, you want me back."

Emily couldn't answer this. She knew that he wasn't telling any lies about this because she _really_ thought that she'd be able to open up to Jack and get some resolution on this area of her life. Just after Amanda came back and made her realize that she couldn't always get what she wanted is that she gave herself time to think about it and to properly miss Daniel.

"You're not a rebound." It was all she could say in her defense.

"How not?" He said in an ironic laugh.

"Because this is about us. Only us." It really sounded better in her head. "I only want to understand what happened with you. The day before your interview you left my house decided of one thing and all I know is that the next day you're doing the opposite."

"So, now you want to talk?" He was sharp. "Ok. I won't tell you everything, just what you need to know."

Emily's heart pounded hard on her chest, she could feel the adrenaline rushing in her blood. Finally she had managed to get something from Daniel.

He took a deep breath. "You know that my family is messed up. My father might've done terrible things in the past – and I'm not saying that he's innocent – and those things haunt him until today. Sometimes, they're more present than ever. Now it's one of those times." He closed his eyes trying to figure out if it was really the right thing to do but kept on speaking. "The night before the interview, my dad came clean with me about everything and how guilt he was on a lot of things. He truly believed that it was his end, he was broken. I didn't go back to your house that night because I had a lot to think. Most of this didn't make any sense for me. So I went to search for some more answers and they were enough for me to decide to stay on my father's side."

Emily listened to everything but, for now, nothing was news for her since she had heard all the conversation through her bug on Conrad's office so she waited until Daniel finished what he was saying.

"If my father did everything he did was because he had a strong reason to do it. You need to keep in mind that there are much higher forces involved and a lot of power in game so when I discovered that the only reason that my family ended up in those things was because my father received _murder threats_ for me when I was just 3 years old – and that's the reason why I've spent most of my summers with my grandma when I was a kid – and the fact that they kept the threats going all this time… I can't just risk everything."

Emily looked terrified especially that what Daniel was saying really fitted on everything. She couldn't remember meeting Daniel when she was a kid even though she had gone to _a few _Grayson Global's summer events with her dad. She suddenly felt _a little_ condescend for Conrad.

Emily's thoughts were interrupted for yet another ironic laugh of Daniel. "That's why I never told you anything. Because I knew that you wouldn't understand." He took a towel and headed to the bathroom.

"No, Daniel…" She said quickly while she tried to be neutral. "It's just… is so much to absorb."

"Well, at least now you can think over about how terrible my family is." He hadn't softened up a bit. "And I need to take a shower. I guess that you know your way out."

Just as Daniel closed the bathroom door, Emily made her way out. All the way back home she was thinking over what Daniel had just said, she never had got to know any piece of the Grayson's side of story like this before, this made her think of what else she didn't know about their side and how this could change what she thought about the whole case.


	13. Give Me Love

**A/N: I think I may suggest that while you read this chapter you listen to "Give Me Love" by Ed Sheeran. Just because I've heard it a thousand times while writing it and it kind of fits (enough for me naming this chapter after the song).  
And thanks for all of your lovely reviews, they're really awesome.**

* * *

Shortly after Emily left, Daniel heard his phone ringing and for a moment just thought of letting it go to the voice mail that he'd check on it later. Even so, he went for it to find the caller was a blocked number. This was actually becoming a thing from the past months and he knew that they didn't leave any messages, so he'd have to answer.

"Daniel Grayson." He said in his sharp business man voice.

"Daniel, this is agent McGowen."

Daniel felt chills running down his spine hearing the FBI agent's name. He was the one responsible for the investigation on his father and was a passenger on the same flight that was taking his mother to Washington to testify in the case. If he was alive… Daniel dry swallowed with the thought.

"I'm calling you since you were the one who delivered the evidence to us some months ago. Your mother said that I could trust in you that day."

Daniel was confused. He had told his mom that he hadn't done it when she brought it up the night that they had their argument. But apparently, McGowen didn't know about this. He wanted to know the reason that the agent was calling him after all this time.

"I'm listening." He said as he thought that the man was waiting for him to say something.

"Your mother is on the witness protection program after what happened to her plane." He was saying things slowly since it was a delicate subject.

"Is she… alive?" Daniel dared to ask.

"Yes, she is. She had some injuries, but she made it. I'm calling you about this. She's still recovering and maybe it'd be good for her to see some… familiar face. We know what happened to your sister – plus the fact that she's a minor which it'd require a responsible consent – so we were just wondering if it was possible to arrange a meeting for the both of you, tomorrow."

Daniel was freaking out. This was too much for him. There was something inside him that made him trust that his mom was alive all this time, but he wasn't waiting for _anything like this._ Out of the blue he'd see her, talk to her… _knowing_ everything that happened. That she's still willing to go forward with her wish to come clean about the David Clarke case when she knew what was in game. He wasn't sure if he could do this. But then he remembered how bad he felt with the thought that his mom could be dead and the last thing he'd remember about her was a slap that left an ugly stain on his face. He weighed in, he had to decide this quickly.

"Ok. Just tell me where." He said wishing not regret it.

"You'll have to be discrete about this. Make sure that _no one_ knows about it…" The agent begun to give him the coordinates.

* * *

She had worked hard on the past few days so she felt like she deserved to give herself a rest, especially because it was raining cats and dogs since the day broke. She was just enjoying the quiet gray day where she had really managed to shut off all her non stopping thoughts for a moment. So that when her phone rang she mentally cursed Nolan, assuming that it was a call from him, but much of her surprise she saw Daniel's picture in the screen. She frowned as she motioned to pick it up.

"Daniel…"

"I need you." He sounded drunk. "Please don't hang up."

"Where are you?" She was preoccupied with him.

"At your porch."

She ran downstairs to find him standing in the rain in front of her house totally trashed. He probably hasn't shaved in some days nor did he change his clothes in a while – that at that moment were soaked wet. She hung up her phone as she opened the door to him while he struggled to go up the stairs that led to her door. As he reached the inside of her house he just fell in his knees crying.

"Daniel, you're soaked. You have to change your clothes." Was all she could say to him as she got down on her knees beside him.

"They just want to use me. Like everybody else, I'm just a pawn on everybody's lives." He mumbled. "It's just ridiculous."

His breath smelled like alcohol but he was managing to make understandable sentences. Even so, she wasn't understanding what she was talking about. "What are you saying?"

"My mom. She's alive, I saw her. But it turns out that she only wanted to see me because they need to gather new evidence on David Clarke. She wanted me to do it, she wanted me to betray my father." He said while he still was crying. "You're the only person that I can talk about it."

Emily shivered at his mention of her father's name. He clearly had no idea of what he had just said since he seemed to be avoiding this subject lately. But she couldn't bring herself to harass him to say more when he was that way on the floor of her living room.

"You'll tell me everything. After you changed your clothes and took a warm bath." She said as she grabbed his arm. "Come with me."

She took him to the bathroom and started the shower for him then went to grab a towel and some clothes of him that were still on her house.

"Go in." She helped him with his clothes. "Here are some fresh clothes, I'll put these ones on the dryer. And make you some coffee."

She was leaving the bathroom when he spoke again. "Thank you."

"You don't need to thank me." She said warmly.

She went downstairs, took care of his clothes and rested the palms of both hands on the cupboard as she waited the coffee to be ready. Just when she thought that her day would be calm… She had never seen Daniel this vulnerable, not even when he was arrested or when she broke up with him. All she wanted to do was to protect him even with the mention of her father's name. If not in this situation she'd react a lot different with the information she had just got, but she just couldn't, not when Daniel was this way.

She waited until she heard the shower go off to pour the coffee in two cups – making sure that he got the one full on sugar, he had to get as much glucose as possible – when he got downstairs looking a bit better.

"Here, take this." She motioned to the cup. "It'll make you feel better. It's not your favorite, but it'll work."

"Thanks." He said as he came closer. "For this and… the clothes."

"I guess I didn't return all of it." She said lightly.

They drank their coffees quietly as both of them weren't sure what to talk about. It was a rather strange moment since Daniel had came for her on seeking for help.

"I can't go home right now." He said, finally. "I can't face my father."

"When did you saw your mother?"

"Three days ago." He said. "And haven't gotten home yet. My father thinks I'm visiting Charlotte."

"How's her?" She was taking it small.

"Better than ever. Not a scar was left." He said hurtfully. "She's on the witness protection program and suddenly was interested in me again. I should've known."

"There was no way you could know this, Daniel. You're still her son, you have faith on her like you always did." Emily said as she grabbed his hand and led him to the couch.

"But I can't let people do that to me. Not anymore." He sounded more sober already.

"You mentioned David Clarke earlier…" Emily dropped.

"And I shouldn't have." He said quickly.

"You said you needed me." She grabbed his hand again.

"If I tell this, you have to promise me that you'll settle down with this." He held her hand tightly. "And that you won't go after this. I can't put you in risk, I can't _think_ that you're somehow in danger because of this."

"That's… That's heavy, Daniel." She said as she was actually surprised.

"It is, and that's why I wanted to keep you away from this. Promise me, Emily." He said steadily.

"Ok, I promise." He won't go on without this, anyway.

"Do you remember the Flight 197 case, don't you?" He asked.

"Yes, it was a huge thing, terrorism was involved and all…" She said as if she didn't know every detail of it.

"Basically, my father has his part of guilty into this. When I told you that there was a sort of organization making threats for me, it was because of this. My dad ended up giving in their threads and started to laundry money for the group responsible for the down of the flight." He paused to look at her. "But then things begun to get complicated and they needed a scapegoat for everything. That's when the organization _highly suggested_ the name of David Clarke, since he was one of Grayson Global's employee it would be easier to frame him in."

Emily dry swallowed. She never got to know such thing. She always thought that Conrad had taken her father as a way to get him for having an affair with Victoria. She tried to put herself together as Daniel continued to tell _his_ version of the story.

"It didn't hurt that he was having an affair with my mom – which you already know since Charlotte is his daughter. This subject only came up again when David Clarke was about to get released from jail, the organization started to harass my father about how he could destroy everything, taking everybody down if he decided to talk. They basically decided that the man should be killed. And now everything's back, including the threats and this was going on while we were still together." He looked at her again and shook his head. "You might be thinking that my family is full of monsters, don't you?"

She took a deep breath and waited the adrenaline low a little bit before answering, studying what she should say. "Kind of, to be honest."

"But it's my family. The same people who got me out of jail. I can't turn my back on this when I'm fully aware of what's in game, it would be selfish of me when my father has done all of this to protect me." He gave her a light smile. "I don't expect you to understand. I just hope that now we're even."

She couldn't answer to that, since she wasn't sure what he had just said meant to her. Instead, she just pulled him closer to a hug and stayed that way for a moment. When they broke apart both remained silent looking at the rain that still fell outside.

"Thank you." He finally said.

"Why?" She grinned.

"For letting me know that I can still be myself." He said, hopelessly.

There, again. He had just left her motionless, she didn't know what to say or to do besides looking into his eyes. He had a kind of angst inside them that just set all her guard down. A part of her had all the wrong reasons for going after him again but she couldn't deny that there was some feelings as well.

"I shouldn't be doing this." Daniel said as he got closer to her.

"Why?" She said as she noticed how close he was.

"Because it'll just make everything harder."

He grabbed her face gently and kissed her. She liked how relieved he felt by just doing this, all the muscles that once were tense when he appeared on her door were now redeemed. She got closer to him and intensified their kiss until both had to go apart to take a breath.

"Can I stay over? Just tonight." He wasn't sure about asking. He knew what this could mean for both of them and it wasn't any good. But he had nowhere to go. "I don't want to go home right now."

"You don't have to ask." She grinned. "Come, you need to sleep."

"I'd be fine here, downstairs…" He really wasn't sure of what was worse for him. "I mean, you know…"

"You need to rest and you need company." She said as they went upstairs. "We can make an exception for today."

Less than 10 minutes later Daniel was sleeping on the same side of the bed he always did and Emily watched him. She grabbed her phone and typed a message for Nolan: _"Don't come over tonight. Daniel's here, explain later."_ and sent it without caring for his answer. She just laid down next to him enjoying the feeling of having his warmth back, even if it was just for one night.


	14. Answers

When Emily woke up the next morning she realized that the place where Daniel was laying a few hours back was now empty. She forced her eyes opened and scanned the room, there was no sign of him except for a note on her night stand:

"_Had to leave early, didn't want to wake you up. Thank you for everything, Daniel."_

She sat on her bed while she recalled what had happened on the last night. She tried her best to remember the exact words that Daniel had spoken, her eyes were closed as if it would help with anything. Victoria was alive, the FBI were gathering evidence which meant that the ones that they had were indeed destroyed by now – except for Nolan's backup –, these weren't actually news but just confirmed what she assumed. Then, something caught her attention and the exact words that Daniel had said echoed through her head…

"_The organization highly suggested the name of David Clarke…"_

How did they know anything about her father or, at least, enough to suggest her name out of hundreds of Grayson Global's employees? She had never really questioned the reasons why her father was made the scapegoat, since the fact of being Victoria's affair pretty much explained it all. But it was rather suspicious that, even loving her father as much as she claims that she did, it was not a problem to stay back and watch everything happen to him instead of try to quietly sabotage Conrad's plans from the insides. If she wanted, she probably would have the power to transfer the plans to any other employee that she disliked enough to frame the person for terrorism.

If the name was suggested there was a reason for it and she couldn't even guess what it was. For now, the side of the story that she knew was the one where her father was blindsided and framed by bad people. It made her realize that she knew a lot of the days while her father was at Grayson Global and how the framing happened, but she knew almost nothing about what came before it. She was just a child and all she can recall is that her father was the new "next big thing" in Wall Street before Conrad's company got him to work for them, but the background of all those things were just a blur. She needed help.

Less than one hour after, she was storming through Nolan's pool side to find him sun bathing. He had a grin on his face as soon as he saw her coming on his direction.

"So, Daniel couldn't resist any longer?" He said pleasantly.

"If coming totally drunk during a storm to my house and then breaking down crying on my living room is your definition of 'not resisting' then, yes." She answered sitting on the chair by his side. "He was a mess."

"What happened?" Nolan sat straight to hear Emily while she recalled the events that took place on the last night, including her conclusions. "Ems, that's much bigger…" He said as she said everything.

"I need to talk with the White Haired Man again. He's our only connection to the Americon Initiative." She said just like she was dropping a bomb knowing exactly what would be Nolan's reaction. "You said you would keep him on track, since he knows who I'm. Now I need this information."

"Do you have any idea of how risky this is?" Nolan said almost breathlessly. "You know what that man is capable of, which is, everything."

"I know but we're running out of options here. If it's not him, who has this kind of knowledge?" She knew that going after that man again was extreme, but was the easiest way out.

"As far as I know, he hasn't moved yet." Nolan said defeated. "He's still at the same place that we last met him."

"I'm going there today." Emily said determined.

"Wait, what?" He stopped her. "At least let me go with you."

"Ok. But I'll talk with him, alone." She said before they begun to discuss their plan to this, especially where it could fail.

* * *

There she was again, at the same very place she swore she'd never come back to a few months ago. When she first left the lost warehouse she thought that, finally, she would be able to settle everything down, that she had gotten her disclosure. The amount of innocence that she had thinking of something like that was just stupid seeing how much changed since then. Her life had a whole new perspective and she was trying to live to it. Different cards were being played by people that she wasn't even sure were actually playing her game and for the first time in a long time she was nervous.

The place looked empty even if Nolan said that he was almost sure that the mysterious man was still living there. She was doing it out of the dark with completely no idea of how she would lure herself in that place – and pulling some lockets were not the answer this time. She was already looking at the back of the building when she heard a _crack_ coming from nearby. Nolan had sworn for his own life that he'd stay in the car so that only meant one thing. She stood still and waited – she had managed to pull his attention and that was more than enough.

"I can't say that I'm surprised of seeing you here, Amanda." The voice soon got a face to it and he was almost unrecognizable with the long beard he had grown.

"Well, I decided that since you're still _alive_ you owe me some answers." She pulled her fierce-ninja-manners in just a second. "Especially about the organization that you work for."

"Finally you realized things weren't that simple. Let me say that for a girl with the skills that you have, it took some time for you to come to this conclusion." He was being provocative. "I'll just listen to know what you've got for me this time."

"What does it mean that my father's name was _highly suggested_ to be framed for flight 197?" She was still sharp.

"Oh kid, let me tell you a story. You might learn a thing or two from it." Emily motioned to speak but the man raised a finger for her to hold her words. "You know that making a life in Wall Street is kind of a bitch and you father was a rising star. The next big thing. When you hear something like that you can bet that he didn't make it by his own, to make the spotlight you have some to give yourself fully. By that, you have to basically sell your soul, otherwise, you'll fail." He motioned for Emily to sit on a tree branch that was next to them. "Your father wasn't any exception and he knew that it was a risky business. There's no space for moral values when net worth values are higher – this doesn't mean that he wasn't a good man, but you have to understand that even the good ones are corrupted on this business."

He waited to see if Emily was going to express any sort of reaction to this. As she didn't, he kept going. "You can make some enemies, powerful ones. Then, you have to make even powerful connections and that's why he ended up with the Graysons. It was a good alliance for both of them but his enemies had their partners as well and when they got to know that there was an opportunity of getting rid of one strong competitor they didn't want to let it go."

"How am I supposed to believe in you?" Emily snapped.

"You came for me to answers, I'm giving you what you asked for. If you're going to believe it or not, it's not up to me." He had irony on his voice. "But you know that you mother is alive right now – yes, if you are going to let you dear friend track me all this time, I have the right to keep you under my thumb as well. You need to start to question yourself why your father made you believe that she wasn't and his motives to this. As well to revaluate what you think about your father – he is not the innocent person that you believe he was – if you allow me to refresh your memory… He was having an affair with a married woman while he was still married to your mother."

He knew that Emily needed him so he wasn't afraid of teasing her. If she was seeking for the truth about what happened with her father she needed to be more aware of things that she was ignoring.

"About your mother… you should stop looking into all the _wrong_ places." He looked as she had her jaw pressed. "She will have more answers than I do."

It wasn't easy for Emily, she had always chosen to have a black or white opinion about her father. When she was in juvie she had made herself believe that he really was the bad guy that everyone thought he was and when she was out she discovered, by his own words, that he wasn't guilt of what he was being accused of. At least, this was true. He wasn't a terrorist or anything that people called him for. What she just had gotten to know wouldn't affect this but as long as it concerned her revenge plans she was starting to have her own doubts.

"A lot to think, huh?" The man pushed her away from her thoughts. "The Graysons aren't the only family that has their own skeletons, you know? Avenging your father's death on them might relieve yourself but that family is suffering their revenge every day by having to live on the edge."

"They were involved. They didn't make anything to stop it." She said automatically.

"I'm not saying that they're innocent." He said with a grin. "But it didn't stop you from falling for his son, did it?"

Emily turned his gaze to him. She wasn't thinking that he was going to go that far. "What are you saying?"

"I told you. I've made my own research when I saw your picture on Conrad's office. Very interesting life yours. If I'm right, you might've spent your whole life believing that you'd end up with that Montauk bartender guy, what's his name…" He paused to think.

"Leave Jack out of this." Emily said sharply. "He doesn't have anything to do with it."

"Yes, Jack. And he also doesn't know how you spent all this time lying to his face. It's interesting, you expecting that he waits for a girl that left him her dog more than ten years ago, holding on this idea that you had of having a happy ever after with a good guy…" Emily had her fists closed and he was enjoying every moment of this. "I can't even imagine how it was when you found yourself _caring_ for a Grayson. It should be such a relief when he chose to side with his father, shouldn't it? Except for the fact that there is this thing that you can't let go of: the _lust._ Like if it wasn't enough for having feelings for him, there is this thing is powerful and it gets even worse when you try to pretend that it doesn't exist…"

It was such a delight for him to watch her reactions as he touched her open wounds, he could stay there all day doing it. "Thinking straight… I don't even know how I should call you. Amanda Clarke or Emily Thorne? I think I like Emily Thorne best, she surely is smarter than Amanda Clarke in all areas. What do you think?" He said with a laugh as Emily stood up and started to leave. "You can tell me the answer latter, I don't care!"

That was the last thing she heard from him that day, she already had enough of his small talk. She climbed on Nolan's car and stayed quiet as they made their way back. Her jaw was still pressed and she looked all kinds of tense so Nolan didn't even dared to say a word since it was likely that she would punch him in his face if he did so.


	15. Family

Daniel had left Emily's house before the day broke down. He made sure that she was still sleeping by the time that he dropped the note on her night stand and made his way to pick up his car that he had parked not that far away from there – but enough that no one seemed to notice that he wasn't that far away from home. As soon as he got to the pool house, he turned his phone on again and saw that he still had plenty of missed calls, a few from his father and another couple from Ashley, he didn't care for them, after all, soon they would realize that his car was back on the driveway and would make hundreds of questions. He just enjoyed the last peaceful moments that he had – even if he was still feeling a little hangover, nothing that one aspirin wouldn't help.

Anyway, he still looked bad, surely could use yet another bath and shaving would help to cut off a few questions from the coming interrogatory. By the time that he got out of the shower the house still looked deadly quiet what, for him, was even better. He would hold on the opportunity of delaying the meeting with both Ashley and his father as much as he could, enough for sleeping for a couple hours before his father stormed in his room.

"Can I see you in my study?" He said steadily as he opened the door loudly. "In five minutes, please."

It was just the time for Daniel to be _a little_ more presentable. It was early in the morning and he wasn't feeling like suiting himself up for what his father had to say to him. But, in the moment that he got in his father's study he thought that maybe it would be better if he had at least changed his clothes.

Standing beside Conrad all polished and with an ironic grin on his face was Andrew – his half brother from Conrad's first marriage. Long story, short story: they _never_ got along. Ever.

The divorce between his father and his first wife got nasty on court and Andrew was raised by his mother. So, from the moment that Daniel was born Conrad put all his efforts on making him the next CEO of Grayson Global. This was never an issue until Andrew got older and things became competitive between them. Even if Conrad was a present father for Andrew, he always bragged of how he had earned things on his life with his own effort while implying that things were given freely to Daniel. Because of that, Daniel always felt like he had to prove even to himself that everything he was getting was because he deserved and not because money could buy it.

"I hope that the four days that you spent away, without saying a word or answering your phone were well spent." Conrad said as Daniel sat on the chair in front of his table. "I don't care what you were doing, son. I know that you must have your own reasons and I trust in you."

Daniel didn't have anything to say. He was expecting to be drowned with questions and it was not what was happening.

"But, you know that you have a role in the company and when you don't answer when your clients are calling, I do have to make an intervention." He said still waiting to see if Daniel had anything to say. "That's why I called Andrew."

"What does he exactly have to do with _my_ clients?" Daniel finally spoke. "I returned all the calls that I've received while I was out, everything is on their tracks. I don't need someone bugging my contracts."

"You know that we're recovering from difficult times and whenever _family_ wants to help, it's always welcomed." Conrad said lightly. "I've instructed Andrew to not make any changes in your contracts but he is now getting some responsibilities himself in the company."

"The company is yours. You do what you think is best." Daniel snapped. "But I'm glad to hear that from you."

He couldn't say that his father wasn't being transparent and, probably, if he hadn't been gone for almost a whole week this situation could be avoided. Also, it wouldn't help if he started to attack Andrew right there he was just hoping to interact the less possible with him.

"So, I imagine that it won't be any problem to know that he will spend the summer here, with us." Conrad finalized.

Daniel tried to keep himself together so, before he could say anything he shouldn't, he got up and left his father's study. Before he could reach the pool house, Andrew was behind him.

"I see that you're excited with the news, little brother." He was being sarcastic. "I can't wait to spend all the summer bonding with you, you know? Have some quality time. I've even already met your new… girlfriend."

Daniel had stopped when heard Andrew's voice but wasn't facing him. "I must say that it is not an improvement from your ex-fiancé." He kept going on. "I've seen her as well, just down the beach. Isn't it awkward, Danny? I mean, I never thought that you could score a girl like her so I can see why things ended how they did. Maybe this summer she can find a _real man_ that knows how to treat her right."

Daniel closed his eyes and turned to Andrew, having their faces apart for only a few inches. "You don't get any close to Emily, you don't talk to her and most important: you _respect_ her." He said sharply. "She's much better than you will ever be."

"Is this a threat?" Andrew said stepping back.

"I don't care how you see it as long as you understand the message: stay the hell away from Emily." He said before going inside the pool house and slamming its door.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for taking so long to update but I was deciding where I'd take the story and if I liked what I had decided to do. **

**Hope you guys like it and thanks for the reviews :)**


	16. Expectations

After speaking with the White Haired Man, Emily had gone for a run. She had to free her mind from what the man had said to her. Just then, she would be able to decide what would be her next step. She didn't know what to think anymore, she had never considered her father's past on what she was doing and much less her mother's possible involvement. Things were much easier for her when the only thing that she had on her mind was that the Graysons were the bad people that should have their lives destroyed – just like they did to her and her father. And, she got really close to that just to have all her plans turned upside down.

By the time that she was getting home again, she knew that the run was useless to keep those thoughts off her mind and she would spend a good time going through all of it. When she reached for her door knob, she noticed that the door was slightly cracked open what made her try to reach for her gun in the drawer but she reminded that it wasn't there anymore. She cursed under her breath and looked around the house to see if she had enough room to reach the kitchen. When she was halfway the cupboard that held plenty of knifes she heard someone cleaning its throat behind her back.

"Takeda…" She said in an exhalation. "What are you doing here?"

She hadn't forgotten that he was the one to be blamed for Daniel paying some time in jail and that, after that he had just disappeared and took Amanda with him. But Amanda had come back and she hadn't heard of him – not even any of her sources.

"I came to check up on you. To see if you understood my message." He said on his normal cold tone.

"I haven't received any messages from you since you disappeared after my engagement party." She said as she got off her defensive position.

"You did. You just don't realize it." The man said gesturing to her. "See, after you came asking for my help many years ago – and I accepted to train you – I kept my own track of your father's case, just like I have my ways to keep on track all of your steps in your revenge path. When I saw that you're reaching the point that you did by last winter, I had to make some intervention."

"What are you talking about?" She looked confused. "What intervention?"

"I knew that once you had the feeling that your enemies were weakened and you had been successful with your plan, you would put everything to lose." He sounded a bit annoyed. "Because of your principal weakness you were destined to end up just like your enemies."

"And what's that?" She was almost challenging him.

"You think that you can have all the years that you've lost back. That in a blink of eyes you can be Amanda Clarke again because you've done justice for your father and that everyone will forgive you because of your intentions." His words were sharp just like all other times when he put on doubt her plans. "What you really seem to forget is that you gave up on being Amanda Clarke, you're not that person anymore. You've buried it almost ten years ago when you changed your identity with someone else. That's why I let the girl that now carries this identity, to come back: for you to remember that you're not her anymore."

Emily was disturbed. She had a lot on her mind and she really wasn't expecting to see Takeda any time soon, what made his words even senseless. "This is ridiculous. How can you say who I am and who I am not?"

"When you came to me, I told you that revenge was a stonier path and that you would have to commit to it. This isn't just about how long it takes for you to achieve your goal. You've agreed to change your _whole life_." She could tell that he was being serious, almost like the first times that they spoke when she came searching for his help. "You can't have both and you know that."

She knew it from the moment that she paid for her name, she was letting go her right of be who she was to be another person. But for a – maybe too long – moment she really thought that she would have it all back. But she couldn't take her sansei reason, he was right after all.

It was obvious for him that she had gotten the message when she didn't even try to argue with him like she usually would, still, something hold him. "I was almost forgetting." He said as he stopped halfway to the door. "You can tell your friend Nolan that Amanda's child it's Jack's. He doesn't need to keep running blood tests to it. I only let her come back after I was sure that the baby was his, didn't want it to be a weak message."

Then, he left. Just putting the cherry on the top of her terrible day.

* * *

It was almost noon when Daniel finally got to the house again. He had spent the whole day making phone calls to his clients to be sure that Andrew hasn't messed up with anything. Inside the house, he ran into Ashley and by her face, he could tell that she had a thousand of things to talk with him so he just followed her to the living room where she sat with her iPad on her lap.

"So, you must know that the feedback of our relationship is, so far, positive." She said as she opened up pages in the gadget. "See? Even Perez Hilton is commenting the fact that it's good to see that you are managing to go on with your life after what happened on winter."

She showed him the gossip pages that were giving "exclusive scoops" on their relationship. He read some of the articles – they were really saying that it was unexpected of him to be like this when everyone was waiting to see him drowning his sorrows in parties and alcohol.

"Thank you, Ash. It was clever of you to pull this one." He was being honest. Her plan was being successful on turning his image. "But you seem to have more for me."

"I do." She said proudly as she showed him a list. "These are all the events that we are going to attend this summer."

He gave it a quickly check. Most were benefit balls that, according to Ashley, were the best option to turn the image of the company. But it looked like that Ashley wasn't urging to discuss their outfits to each ball. She had something else. "So far, it's ok to me. But you seem to have something else to say…"

"You're right." She said as she took a deep breath. "People still are used to your relationship with Emily and you guys took it fast paced. Before people knew it, you were engaged to her. All of this happened in one summer. So, they kind of have the same expectations to us…"

Expectations. Only he knew how much he hated this word. How could people expect something out of his relationship with Ashley? Not even he was capable of expect something out of it when she came up with the plan to Conrad and him. His father thought that it was worth the shot, that the story was easy to be bought while he just went with it.

"I don't know, Ashley. I really expected that at some point we would say that we chose to part our ways or something like that." He was trying to make sense. "I never thought about it in the long run."

"I know." She took a pause as she gave it a thought. "But you know… maybe we could take it from where you and Emily left... I talked with you father and he said that if you agreed…"

"Wait…" He was confused. "You are saying for us to get… _married_?"

"What I'm saying is that you should think about it. A wedding is _always_ good press." She tried to make it sound like business. "Then, we could go through an amicable divorce."

It was insane. He was sitting right there having his life being planned all along. Worst: planning on getting married _while_ thinking about how the divorce would go on. "Just… let me think about it, ok?"

Ashley begun to gather her things to leave the room while Daniel looked at a fixed point but before she could leave, he remembered that he had a thing that he wanted to talk with Ashley before.

"Wait." He said to get her attention. "What exactly have you told Andrew about last summer? About my relationship with Emily?"

"Not much. Just the basic stuff." She answered. "And only because he asked."

"Well, don't tell him anything anymore." He said. "If he asks you any other detail, tell me. Don't trust in him."

He stayed in the room as Ashley left. He knew that if his father bought Ashley's idea, he would have to go for it. Especially now that Andrew was around and looking for the first weak link to explore his way in the company – Daniel still wasn't buying the whole "I'm here to help in a difficult time" speech that Andrew was giving to justify his sudden devotion for their father. He also had this to occupy his mind.


	17. A New Perspective

**A/N: This chapter has references to episode 14 (Perception).**

* * *

Emily woke up that morning knowing that it wasn't an ordinary day, as much as it seemed to be for her. It was her birthday but there wasn't much for her to celebrate. She would've let it just pass if it wasn't for a neat white box that was sitting on her porch. Her first thought that it probably was from Nolan, he was the only one who could bring himself to care for such thing. She almost left it hanging in some corner until Nolan came by and whined about her ignoring it but the handwritten "Emily" that was on the card's envelope caught her attention. It _wasn't_ Nolan's. She opened it to find a white card with a message:

"_We've been through so much that I can't bring myself to ignore your birthday._

_This is probably one of my favorite books. Hope that you like it as much as I do._

_Happy birthday._

_Daniel."_

She opened up the box to find a copy of "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell" by William Blake inside it. She took it and went looking for one of the shelves on her wall. There, it was an exact same copy as the one she held in her hands only that, the one that was among other books was really worn out. It was one of her favorite books as well she still could remember the day that she was first introduced to it and the day that followed it.

* * *

_Daniel had read a quote from it for her one of the nights that she was following him in Harvard in a hole-in the wall bar next to campus._

"If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite."

_She thought it was interesting. She could relate to it, not by the same meanings that the guy did, but he impressed her. She wasn't expecting to hear William Blake from the party boy's mouth. But, for some reason, it grew on her._

_On the following day, she was getting ready to depart from Harvard. It was not safe to stay there for much time. The maximum bonds that she had made were the ones that led her to Daniel, nothing more. Now that she had what she went looking for, it was time to go._

_What she didn't expect was to be followed that day. She took it in. It was probably just a coincidence. She had spent so much time following him that she was probably taking the same paths that he usually did. But not when he made the same turns that she did, on purpose. She stopped. It was annoying when it was with her._

"_What do you want?" She said as he approached by her back._

"_I'm not really sure…" He said as he got to her side. "You left me intrigued last night."_

"_You shouldn't be recovering yourself from a massive hangover?" She tried to take the conversation to another path._

"_Oh, no. I wasn't _that_ drunk." He said as it was obvious. "I just took a few drinks to help me think."_

"_It's hard to believe, especially when you were having a hard time to finish your own thoughts." She was teasing him._

"_Not. You're wrong again." He said with a grim. She had to admit, he was _really_ charming. "I was… impressed."_

"_I want to know why?" She said as she was superior to him. She _felt_ superior._

"_You should!" He laughed. "You didn't know who I was!"_

"_Oh, right." She paused as if she was thinking. "To be allowed to walk through these streets I _must_ know who you are, apparently."_

_He laughed again. It was annoying her, she wanted to punch him in the face so bad._

"_No, you don't get me right do you?" He was smiling. _

_She didn't answer him since she thought that it was a rhetorical question. He noticed how annoyed she looked and made his statement. _

"_Actually, it felt good to be around someone who didn't judge me by who I must be. Somehow, it was fascinating to me not having to behave how people expect me to do. But, you know, I think that I wasn't invited to your study session." _

"_How's that?" She was a bit more interested now._

"_You know, I was talking about infinite freedom just some seconds before your friend introduced us. When you said that you didn't know who I was… I felt like I had this freedom to be whoever I wanted to be. It's a rare feeling for me." He had a genuine smile on his face. "Believe me, it was. If you want any proof, ask around. I can assure you that most of people will tell you something about me. Truth or lie, it doesn't matter, everyone has their minds made up about me around here."_

"_Even so, I don't think it's bad to be you. Now that I know who you are." She was being honest._

"_See? Even you have your mind made up right now." He laughed again. It seemed to be such a joy for him. "It's really fascinating how it doesn't need much time for people make assumptions about me. Maybe if you let me pay you breakfast, I can make you change your mind."_

"_Not happening." She said quickly. "I'm actually leaving today."_

"_What? The semester barely started!" He protested. "If you're not interested, you don't need to make excuses. I can handle the rejection."_

_He _really_was a charmer and he knew it. He could be really convincing if he wanted something. No wonder that he was being suit up for business his whole life._

"_Actually, it's not an excuse." She said with a smile. "I was only here for a few classes. They ended yesterday so I'm leaving now. Sorry."_

"_I guess there's only one thing for me to do now." She wanted to get out of there as fast as possible but he was tying up all the cues that she tried to create. "It's pretty shaming but it's _all_ I ask: don't have your mind made up about me. I wish I could ask this everyone but I can't so I'm asking you."_

"_I think that I can do this." It was sincere. She barely knew him anyway. "If it helps you in your search for your infinite freedom."_

"_It may be a start." He said as she finally got her cue to leave. "Wait."_

_She turned around to see that he was still at the same place._

"_I don't remember your name." He said nicely._

"_That's because I didn't give it to you." She said back. "Goodbye, Grayson."_

_She left and didn't look back but from that day ahead she knew that Daniel wasn't a target neither a threat to her. When she heard about the accident involving him and his girlfriend that summer she knew that he was going to be her way in the Grayson family. He was careless and wanted to break free from his family, it was the perfect combination for what she needed – he wouldn't create bonds with her and when everything his parents had done came to light, he probably would be thankful that it was his excuse out of the family._

* * *

Funny to see now how everything backfired. Blood was thicker than water after all and she should've known this better than anyone. Still, it was hard to simply accept it but, by all means, he would be a lot closer to home when everything fell down – if things happened the way she planned.

She didn't want that anything bad happened to him. She was still protective about the person he showed her he is. He wasn't a target and neither would ever be but it was clear that the closer he was to his family, the bigger the collateral damage would be for him.

She spent some time of her day going through her favorite parts of the book. It was good to remind some of the things that she learned from it and all of the parts that she would often relate to her life. She wished she had time to read it again but duty called and she had to go through the information about her father's past that she had gathered.

As she expected, Nolan came by at night. He appeared at her porch holding a package that contained a small cake inside. She wasn't in the mood for this and made it very clear when he arrived.

"Come on, Ems." He protested. "You can't say no to cake in your birthday!"

"If we eat it, you'll get over it?"

"After blowing your candles, yes." He said with a joyful grin on his face.

She did it just for him to stop bothering her with this. She actually even enjoyed the cake.

"I hope you made a wish before blowing it." He pointed to the candle with his fork.

"You know what they say…" She teased. "If you talk about it, it won't happen."

He laughed at how she easily dismissed him. But a little after he was serious and it raised her attention.

"How are you?" He said as he realized that she was trying to read him. "I mean, after everything that went down those last few days you seemed…"

"A lot of things." She completed his sentence. "Yes, I was. I still am, I guess. That's why I need to find out more about who my parents were."

It was obvious by all the files that were on her coffee table as well for the one that were open on her laptop. Nolan waited for more.

"I need to know who I am, Nolan." She finally said. "Because right now, I'm not sure anymore."


	18. Changes

Her morning jogs were usually pretty lonely, she liked them that way. She put her earphones on and it was the moment when she could have some time for herself.

Nolan was optimistic about finding her mother sooner than later. Apparently, the answer was under their noses all the time and they were just avoiding facing it by making up new possibilities.

The thought of meeting with her mother after all this time was occupying her mind a lot since Nolan came with the news shortly after he left her house on her birthday. It was "another birthday gift" according to him and she was trying hard to see it by the same eye. Still, something was holding her back. The motives that caused her mother to disappear made her shiver.

She made a stop to regain her breathe when she noticed that she had company. She had never seen the man that was approaching her with a concerned look on his face. She took a deep breath and stood straight when he reached her.

"Are you ok?" The man said reaching for her.

"Yes." She smiled. "Just stopped to take some breath."

"Oh, I'm glad." He looked relieved. "I saw you running so well and suddenly you stopped… I thought something was happening."

"No, no. Everything is fine but thanks for your concern." There was something about this guy that rang some bells for her but she couldn't really tell what it was. "I've never seen you around…"

"That's because I don't spent much time around. Actually it's been some long years since I last spent a summer in here. A lot has changed." The guy said while looking around. "Where are my manners? I'm Andrew."

He took his hand out for her. "Nice to meet you." She shook his hand. "I'm Emily."

"Yes, I kind of know who you are, I've got to confess." Emily looked confused. "You were engaged to Daniel Grayson, weren't you?"

"Oh, yes." Emily gave a soft laugh. "I guess I'm not used to that."

"Since you are fine, I guess I might get going." The man had good looks and surely knew the right words to say but there was something suspicious about him. "I don't want to bother you anymore."

"That's fine… Actually, thanks for your concern." She said as she got her earphones back. "See you around."

"See you." He said between his smile.

* * *

Daniel was having his breakfast alone when Andrew stormed in the kitchen with track suit and soaked in sweat. He just looked briefly at the other man and kept concentrated on his fruits but that didn't seem enough.

"Beautiful day today, isn't it little brother?" Andrew said over the refrigerator holding a glass of orange juice. "You should get out of the house, do some runs around…"

"No, thanks, I'm good." Daniel answered shortly.

"You don't know what you're missing out."

"Pretty sure I know this place better than you do. So, I would say that I have an idea." Andrew had got his attention since there was nothing left for Daniel to focus on.

"Why so bitter?" Andrew said jokingly. "There wasn't enough sugar on your coffee?"

"I actually prefer to start my mornings with better companies."

"I see. But, you know, there's something that I still don't understand quite well." Andrew bit an apple that stood on the kitchen's board. "How I wasn't invited to your engagement party. Heard it was quite a party."

"It was for only close friends, it must be reason that your name didn't make the list." Daniel was being a little harsher than he was used to and Andrew was enjoying it.

"I hope that you don't forget me for your next one, since it seems to be pretty close." He put a grin on his face and quickly added. "And that you don't kill anyone this time. I really hope that you put some 'no-guns' heads up on the invitation, just in case."

"What are you talking about?" Daniel looked confused and angry.

"I just happen to have heard it the other day. You and your new girlfriend are planning to get engaged, aren't you?"

"That's nothing of your business." Daniel said as he was leaving the table.

"Just want to make sure that I receive my invitation this time." Andrew said with a smile. "I wouldn't miss it for nothing in this world. Not this time."

"I'll try to keep that on mind."

Daniel was making his way to the observatory. He had set up an office for him there since he knew that it was the only room of the house that Andrew wouldn't dare to come in. But before he could reach the stairs, he heard the last words that Andrew almost shouted from the kitchen.

"By the way… met your ex today. Such a lovely lady!" He laughed.

Daniel exhaled loudly. He knew that all his half brother was doing had one purpose that was teasing him. For knowing it, he shouldn't let it affect him the way Andrew expected to. When he reached the observatory he made this as a promise to himself: he wouldn't back down from Andrew, but he would give it back on the same coin, which meant aiming for his biggest weak spot: his ego.

For this, Daniel intended to make some changes in the way he faced his business. He was in a position where he could make some decisions for his own and the company was in need of some fresh air. It certainly wouldn't hurt if he changed some of the politics while dealing with his clients and what he had in mind for the future could help to change the company's image.

Daniel was rather pleased with what the day had brought him. Things were still a mess in his life but for the first time in a long time he had a good feeling about something. It was a change and, maybe, the first of some others that could happen.

Daniel went to the balcony and looked to Emily's house. Her windows were opened but she was nowhere in sight. It didn't matter that much, he had a bit of hope for the future and, hopefully, Emily would be a part of it.


	19. Good News

Later that day, Conrad found Daniel waiting for him at his study. His son was sitting there with some papers neatly distributed on his desk. Daniel waited until Conrad sat to begin to explain himself.

"I've decided what to do with my shares from the company." He began to speak. "I own part of it and now I want to do something with it. The project is ready all it needs is your green light for it to happen."

Daniel paid attention to his father's expressions as Conrad took the papers to carefully analyze it going back and forth through pages. Impatience was starting to show on Daniel as the minutes passed.

"I know that it's something we've never done before but that's why I think we should do it." He started to explain his motives going beyond what was on ink in the papers. "I mean, we have nothing to lose. I've talked with a few of my clients and they have agreed to back me up on this…"

Conrad shift his gaze from the papers for his son and interrupted him before he could finish his sentence.

"Son…" He said to get Daniel's attention. "I think it's great. If you really want to commit yourself into it, go for it. If anyone in this family could do such thing happen that person is you."

"Wait…" Daniel wasn't sure if he understood. "What are you saying?"

"Exactly what you heard." Conrad said calmly. "The Grayson Foundation is happening and your idea to announce it at the gala this weekend is just… incredible, perfect timing."

"That's… that's great." He tried to hold back his excitement. "I'll call my clients to let them know that the project is happening."

Daniel didn't make any mention to leave the study as he stayed looking at one random point of the floor. Part of him was absorbing what had just happened. He never thought that his father would accept his project easily like that but, another part was still waiting for something more.

"Anything else, Daniel?"

"Actually… yes." He signed with his head in confirmation. "If you could just not tell anyone about it yet, would you _please _do it?"

"Sure." Conrad said with a light chuckle. "Just so you know… I'm really proud of you. What you're doing here is something that I never dared to do and I'm glad to see that you are not making the same mistakes that I've made."

There it was. The thing that Daniel waited the most from it: the approbation from his father. He wasn't exactly used to receiving that kind of feedback and it felt good to hear that from him. He also knew that soon enough it would hit Andrew and that, for sure, wasn't something he was expecting.

Before Daniel could leave the room, Conrad signed for him to stay where he was. "I believe that there's still one subject left for us to discuss."

Daniel frowned. There wasn't actually anything else that he was willing to discuss with his father but the older man looked like he was sure that they had some kind of pending talk to do. He sat back down and stared his father.

"Ashley?" Conrad asked him to see if it put any light on the subject. "She came to me with her ideas the other day and I presume that she has already briefed you about them."

Daniel nodded reminding himself about what he was avoiding to think about. "The… wedding plans. The ones she told me you're aware about."

"Exactly." Conrad confirmed as he sat back on his chair. "I want you to know that this is up to you. She only informed me about the plans she had came up with and I told her that everything else she would have to discuss with you."

"That's what she did."

"Well, it's what I expected her to do." Conrad let out a chuckle. "What I'm trying to saying here, son, is that you don't need to do anything that you don't want to…"

Conrad took a moment before properly finishing his sentence. "Especially because everything that happened with Emily is still pretty recent. I don't want you to feel like you have any obligations of this kind."

Daniel had clearly gotten the message when he finally got up to leave. "Thanks, dad."

The next couple of days were filled with calls related to Grayson Foundation. Daniel would be able to announce it in the weekend, what made Ashley ecstatic for the publicity it would bring. She would often ask why she hadn't had the idea before and Daniel would just say that, at least, one of them had it. They knew that it meant more than anything related to Daniel's personal life for the headlines what made him even more relieved. It was tiring to watch out for every step he took and every word he said in public being afraid of how people would use it against him.

Ironically, the press only had given him a rest on what concerned his personal life when he wasn't trying too hard to be a "good" person: when he was with Emily the past summer. People would say that she enlightened him, taking away all the weight of being a Grayson.

Among all the calls Daniel received that day, the last one probably made him happier. Enough so that he called the day quit after it. It came from an unknown number but the voice that answered was well known by him.

"Hello?" He said as he got it.

"Danny?" The voice answered making Daniel laugh.

"Charlotte! My day couldn't get any better." By his voice, she could tell that he was indeed, happy. "You are able to make calls?"

"Yes… I tried to reach dad before but it seems like he's in a conference or anything like that." She said like it wasn't that big deal. She was used to her dad being somehow occupied. "So I decided to call you."

Since Charlotte was taken to the rehabilitation clinic by the end of the winter Daniel has been the one that followed every step of her progress. With the thought of losing their mother – and that Charlotte didn't have any of her parents alive anymore – made him take responsibility of her, even that Conrad had never talked about Charlotte not being his biological daughter anymore. "I'm glad you did. But this call has any special meaning or it's just because you were missing us?"

"Both." She said with a chuckle, it was evident that she was healthier.

"So we have news?" He was surprised. "Is it what I'm thinking of?"

"If you're thinking of having me home for what's left of the summer then, you're right." She was excited about it. Daniel and Conrad visited her a lot but it was always on determined period of time and with supervision. But now that she was better, she was taking the next step on the rehabilitation process.

"Charlotte, that's great!" Daniel exclaimed. "When you're getting home?"

"Next week, probably. There's still some formalities that the doctors want to go through with both you and dad but I wanted to give the news myself." She proudly said.

"It's going to be so good to have you here again, you have no idea." He said kind of relieved.

"Is it so bad?" Charlotte laughed. "Or you're just being over dramatic?"

"Not much. But it's going to be better with you here." He said before they said their goodbyes.


	20. Returns

Early in the morning, Emily heard knocks on her door. It wasn't something particularly usual since for the few visitors that she had would normally just barge in her living room – not that she liked but it was the price she paid for not wanting some high tech security system. Even more strange was to open her door to find a messenger when she wasn't expecting for anything.

"Emily Thorne?" The guy asked as soon as she opened the door.

"Yes, but I'm afraid I'm not waiting for anything." She said as she examined the sheet she was handed to sign.

"Well, I was assigned to drop this for you this morning." He gave her a white envelope with her name fancily written in the front.

"Well, here it is." Emily signed her receiving sheet and gave it back to the man that waited on her door. "Thank you."

As soon as she closed the door, she ripped the envelope open to find an invitation to the charity ball that was being sponsored by Grayson Global on the memory of Victoria. Emily had no intention in going on this one in special, she doesn't even bothered in buying herself an invitation but even so, she was being one of the "honor guests". She grabbed her phone and called Nolan who picked up at the first ring.

"Hope you don't have plans for tonight." She said when he picked up.

"What we are doing?" He said, pleased.

"You're my plus one for the charity ball tonight." She said in an affirmation much like Nolan didn't have other choice.

"I thought you're not going to this one…" He remarked.

"I just received an invitation as an honor guest." She updated Nolan. "And for some reason, I think we should go."

"I have no idea of what made you change your mind." Nolan speculated. "But, you know that I'm not missing this."

* * *

Daniel barely had two straight hours of sleep that night. He was nervous about his speech later that night and couldn't stop thinking about it. It was not his specialty to talk in front of a crowd, it was usually his father who took charge of it. He swore that he could start his day with a shot of scotch, just to calm down his nerves. It's been a while since he last did it and had never felt the need to do it again, until that morning. But, he held it back. If he crossed that line and started drinking that early, he would probably give in more times as the day went by.

Later, he was glad of his decision. Shortly after lunch time, he heard an engine pulling up, as it couldn't be Andrew, since his car was parked at the same exact spot for the past two days – even though he was nowhere to be seen for the same amount of time – he instantly made the assumption that it was Conrad. He had no intention of showing his father that he was close to have a huge cold feet about everything that he had built on the past few weeks. So, when the door opened, he was ready to see his father bursting into the house, giving instructions about his luggage to the maids.

Much for his surprise, when the door opened, a petit brunette came into the house. She stood on the front hall while she gave a look on everything. Even if pretty much was still the same that it was a year ago, a lot seemed to be just different. With the sight of his little sister, Daniel let out a laugh and went to give her a hug.

"Why I'm only knowing that you'd be home today now that you're home?" He said as he had on arm around her.

"After we last talked, dad called me asking why I was trying to reach him." She said as she looked behind their backs to see if Conrad was coming. "Then, I told him what I had just told you and he said that he insisted on picking me up today. So, as we had it all figured out, I didn't want to bother you anymore."

"You know that you'll never bother me."

"Alright, remind me of this later." She said with a chuckle.

He was glad to see how much of an improvement his sister had over the time that she spent on reclusion while she was getting recovered. Sometimes, he would consider going through the same process, just for the sake of getting away of all the drama.

"Oh… but we have a problem." Daniel let her go to face her. "Grayson Global has an event tonight and I think that you might want to settle down and rest."

"No, son. That's not an issue." Conrad said as he walked in the house with people bringing in Charlotte's luggage behind him. "We've talked before coming home and Charlotte said that she wanted to be there to support you."

"Yes, dad is right." She smiled at him. "Did you really think that I wouldn't be there for you?"

"No, it's just… It was so last minute. I was thinking that maybe they had decided to keep you there for some more days…" Daniel tried to make sense of his thoughts. "Anyway, you're here and that's great!"

"We have a lot of catching up to do." She said as both went up the stairs with Daniel carrying some of her bags. "And you know what I'm talking about."

* * *

**A/N:** I know I took a long time to update and I'm sorry for that, but I've been a bit busy lately. I hope you all enjoy the update and I'll try to update again as soon as possible.


	21. Brother and Sister

As the afternoon passed by, Daniel got even more nervous for his speech later that night. He had decided to go up to his mother's observatory to write it down all over again – for the fourth time. Everything and everyone inside the house were deadly quiet and the only sound that he could hear was from the waves breaking on the beach. He had spent a good couple of hours going through his new draft but even so, there were still so much he wanted to say and so little words to write it down with. He was so focused with his work that he didn't even notice that Charlotte was standing by the door watching him over for more than five minutes before she got off her balance and raised his attention.

"Sorry." She said as she got closer to him. "You looked really focused and I just came for the view…"

"It's probably a sign that I should stop obsessing over this." He said as he folded the paper and put it inside his back pocket.

"It's weird how nothing seems to have changed around here…" Charlotte said as she approached the edge of the balcony.

"For me, nothing is the same." He said as he went beside her.

"What happened, after all?" Charlotte asked when she noticed that his gaze was on Emily's house. "I mean, between you two."

"I don't know." He forced a smile at her. "In one moment we were good, in the next, everything is falling apart."

"Isn't it always like this?" Charlotte gave it an annoyed laugh. "We should be used to that."

"I just don't understand it." He stared at the horizon. "She admitted cheating on me and even so I can't get her out of my head."

"That's why you're up here, right?" She smiled at him. "The maids told me that you've been spending a lot of time up here."

"I just need to know that she's fine." He looked over at Emily's house.

"Do you still love her?"

"If I told you that I don't, I would be lying even to myself." He laughed. "It's hard not to."

"I never actually told you… But I really like Emily." She turned to face Emily's house. "I was actually looking forward to your wedding."

"Really?" He smiled at the words of his sister. "It's crazy how apart this family have become on the past year. I could've been getting married and we never had this conversation."

"I think that Emily was a good for you. I may have been away during the time you were together but I could tell that she brought something different in you." She looked at her brother. "And I really liked the idea of having a sister."

"I don't know where we are standing right now." He sat on the edge of the balcony, facing his sister. "It's confusing. I miss her, she knows this. She misses me and I know this. But we both know that we can't go back together, not now at least…"

"There's Ashley." Charlotte interrupted Daniel. "What's this about?"

"It's silly. It was something to boost the image of the company through boosting my image. Ashley thought it was a good idea; dad thought it was a good idea and I was willing to help."

"And why is it still going on if it's silly?" Charlotte was smarter than people took her for. She could always come up with questions that couldn't be answered on situations like this one.

"Because it's convenient." It was really the best that Daniel could put as an answer, just so that he didn't sound defeated.

"Well, it was just as convenient for mom to keep the secret that David Clarke is my father and you saw how it ended." Charlotte watched out for the tone in her voice, so that what she had just said didn't come up as a low play by her. She had learned to live with it. "What I'm trying to say is that sometimes, convenient is just not enough or even right."

"When did you become that wise?" Daniel gave her a laugh to smooth the mood. "And what you did to my little sister?"

"Someone on this family had to learn a thing or two after the year we had." She gave in to his joke.

"Sometimes I think that I should just accept that I lost Emily." He said after being quiet for a moment. "I've made my choice to stay by dad's side. I just hadn't realized that it implied on losing her."

"Didn't you say that you both miss each other?" She smiled at him as if she had figured out the simplest thing ever. "And you have a past and an intense past, actually. You can't forget that you've been engaged to her."

"We were supposed to be getting married this month." He recalled for the first time. "But none of this is easy."

"Or, both of you are just making it harder than it should be." She had maintained the same voice tone. "She cheated on you, ok. But we all make mistakes, Danny. You should know this better than all of us. She said that it was in consequence of having second thoughts about how you behaved but now you have to tell me… is she right?"

Daniel remained in silence. He didn't have an answer to that question nor wanted to answer it, since he wasn't sure of it. His family name had saved his life, twice. He owed to it. But it looked like it wasn't easy for someone who hasn't been there to understand it.

"Whatever." She sounded more like his sister right now. "Just don't forget to be yourself."

Daniel smiled and looked away once again. He stayed quiet for a few minutes until he gathered up his things and turned to Charlotte.

"We should go inside." He said as he pointed to an area over the ocean where clouds begun to get bigger and darker. "A storm is in the way. The first one of the summer."


	22. Progress

Emily was impatient. She had agreed on not arriving early at the party in order to avoid press or any unnecessary attention. But Nolan was already more than late. If things could get any worse, he was not picking up any of her calls.

"Damn, Nolan." It was already her fifth voice mail. "I prefer when you stick to our plans."

Twenty minutes after her last voice mail, she was deciding on going on her own and facing the party alone but before she could get someone to drive her, Nolan pulled over her driveway.

"If you were not being kept on home arrest by another psycho again, I won't forgive you for not answering my calls or giving me some explanation." She stormed as he came inside the house.

"I was on a meeting." He was pale and a little bit breathless. "And what I have for you couldn't be explained over the phone. You'd better sit for this."

Nolan would often make things bigger when he got her upset. He liked to make his work seem more relevant than it really was but, this time, she could sense that something was wrong.

"Brace yourself." He had placed his computer on the coffee table in front of her. The storm outside had gotten worse and her living room would be completely dark if it wasn't for the light that came from Nolan's computer. On the screen, a video was rolling. It showed a white room with a small table and a metal chair that was empty. A woman came out from a back door and approached the chair. She looked like she was over her 50s and almost on her 60s, with ash blonde hair she looked like she hadn't seen the light of the sun for a while and her face was of a disturbed person. When Emily realized what she was watching, she gasped. She wasn't ready for it.

"Please, tell me your name." A voice that came off screen asked.

"Kara." The woman numbly answered. "Kara Wallace Clarke."

Emily was in utter shock. She stared Nolan with disbelief.

"Where did you...?" She was interrupted by Nolan asking her to be quiet and pay attention to the video.

The voice that came from off screen took over the room again.

"Ok, Kara. Can you tell me what day is it?"

"February 15th of 2012." Emily's mom answered. It was from just a few months back.

"Right." The voice off screen came back before Emily could rationalize anything. "And can you tell me why you're here?"

"I don't know." Kara looked confused.

"Yes, you do know." The voice was calm and professional. "Tell me what happened before you got here."

"My husband was arrested." She said with a certain difficult. "They took my baby away from me."

Emily held back her breath with the words that she had just heard. It was way beyond she imagined that she could take.

"Could you give me more details, Kara?" In a distant sound it was clear that someone was taking notes of what looked like a psychiatrist session.

"My husband… we were having problems." She recalled. "He said that things couldn't keep up the way that they were doing. That I would end up hurting someone. So, he decided to take our daughter, Amanda, away."

"And what happened later?"

"All that I know is that he was arrested. Apparently, he was involved with some terrorist group." She wasn't sure about the details of what she was talking about. "I tried to take my baby back. I did. But she said that she was David's friend, that he had asked her to take care of Amanda and I trusted her. Then, I've never heard of them again."

"Who was this person, Kara?" The voice remained calm as if it wasn't the first time that he heard this story being told.

"I just want to see my daughter!" Kara yelled. "Why do you keep doing this to me? I won't hurt her!"

"Kara, stay focused." Some seconds were given to Emily's mom calm herself down. "Remember that you need to collaborate. Then, you're going to see your daughter."

With these words, she stopped. "Really?"

"Yes, but you need to answer this last question." The room stayed quiet for a while. "So, who was that person?"

"She told me that her name was Victoria." Kara paused. "Victoria Harper."

A few seconds after, the recording stopped. Emily had her face covered by her hands as Nolan took his computer back in silence. He stayed by the window watching the storm that poured outside.

"Where is she?" Emily said with a weak voice.

"Near Boston." Nolan answered slowly. "At an institution."

"For how long?" Emily uncovered her face.

"I don't know exactly. I would for more than three months, for sure." He tried to make things easier for Emily as she took in the information that he provided. "It's said that she has anger problems, including some rage attacks. Also, it seems like she has erased some parts of her memory and made up stories to fill the gaps between what she remembers and what she doesn't. That's why they have some of her sessions on tape."

Emily got up and started to walk back and forth, trying to remember the details of what she had just seen.

"Victoria Harper." She said as she stopped and turned to Nolan. "Is it…?"

"Your, now late, highness. Yes." He confirmed Emily's thoughts. "I don't have any idea of how they know each other. And the possible reason as to why she gave your mom her maiden name, since it doesn't look like your mother knows anything about the Graysons."

Nolan forced a smile as Emily quickly put herself together. She grabbed her clutch and walked towards the door while Nolan was still standing by the window.

"Where are you going?" He said with surprise. He thought that all their plans were suspended after the news that he had just brought to her.

"You said that you don't have any idea as to why my mom knows Victoria." Emily looked at herself in the mirror. "We're going after answers and a party to attend."

Emily had her emotionless expression on again and Nolan knew what it meant: it wasn't time for him to do the questions so, he just followed her instructions.

"We don't want to be late now that we have a reason to be there tonight."


	23. Enough is Enough

Daniel was just finishing another drink – he had stopped counting a few glasses ago – when the door was shut open as Andrew shook himself to get rid of the water from the storm that was still pouring outside, before getting inside the hose.

"Oh, it was just too good to be true." Daniel said with the sight of his older half brother standing on the hall. "Thought that you had finally realized that no one wants, or actually cares, for you in here."

"So I assume that you're not going to pour me one of these out of your free will?" Andrew gave him a loud laugh to announce to anyone who hasn't noticed yet that he was back.

"No. It's not rocket science to discover it, though." Daniel looked over for his things and gave another look on his watch. Fashionably late would have a new meaning if everyone else kept on delaying their departure. "You never had many problems on making yourself comfortable without needing for an invitation, don't you? So, it's not now that we'll have to pretend to be polite."

He hated how much Ashley took to get herself ready. He had never noticed that until now that they had to wait for her more often than not. But, on that day, it was probably her way of trying to get back at Daniel for shutting her ideas of hosting the event on the manor's garden.

"No one needs to have visual proof of how sad this house looks." He had told her when she came up with the idea.

It wasn't hard to find a place just a few minutes away from there to do it. Daniel actually could get there by himself without many troubles if it wasn't raining cats and dogs outside.

"Well, on that case…" Andrew's voice brought Daniel back to the reality. "I'll pour myself one drink. Don't be shy to join me on this one."

"I hope you enjoyed your vacation." Daniel side-eyed him as he backed himself on a wall with a glass of scotch on his hand.

"You're not the only one who can disappear for a few days." Andrew said between sips on his drink. "But unlike you, I wasn't hiding in my ex's house. I just went to see my mother. I'd rather to do this as much as I can while she's alive."

His references were clear as crystal. Daniel tried his best to let it go and stay calm. Andrew did a lot of this to just pick on him to see how far Daniel would take on his little game.

"Most important, while my mom isn't backstabbing anyone." He poured himself another glass. "Actually… all she ever did was honor to family's name whenever she got the chance to do so. Unlike some others who had it all and just turned their backs to the ones that stood for them all this time. I just… I just don't accept it. That's betrayal and God knows how much I despise this kind of people."

"Ok, that's it." Daniel closed his fist and took a full swing on Andrew's lower lip. The older one fell on his back and, almost instantly, placed a hand where a few seconds ago Daniel's knuckles were busting open a wound.

The noise that the brief altercation made was enough to bring the people of the house together on the living room. Conrad knelt next to Andrew helping him to recover his senses while Daniel stretched his now swollen hand.

"Daniel!" The father buffed while giving Andrew a piece of cloth to clean the blood out of his face. "What on Earth were you thinking?"

"That's time for Andrew to pack his stuff and leave the hell out of my mother's house." He said without facing any of the two men that still were on the floor.

"Don't be stupid!" Conrad protested. "This house can have anyone that's willing to stay over for the time that's necessary. Especially, if it's family!"

"No, it doesn't." Daniel was not backing down on his decision. "This house is mine and if he thinks such things about the woman who built this house, he shouldn't be living under this roof."

"Don't forget that Charlotte owns this house as much as you do as part of her inheritance." Conrad tried to search for escapes.

"No, dad." Charlotte said from the top of the stairs. "I heard loud and clear what he thinks about my mother. If he does so, this is not the place for him to be."

"If I'm not mistaken, he's getting his incomes from the company." Daniel stayed at the bottom of the stairs waiting for his sister to join him. "That should be more than enough for him to settle down at the South Fork Inn if he wishes to spend the summer around here."

As Charlotte met Daniel, he stretched his arm out for her to take and they made their way out of the house without anyone to protest. As they passed through the door, the car was waiting for them.

"Thank you." Daniel said once they got inside. "I was going crazy if he stayed there much longer."

"I know." Charlotte smiled at her older brother. "And even if I don't know much about him, he has ever stroked me the wrong way."

"I guess I just needed to punch him in the face." Daniel laughed. "It feels much better right now."

"It won't feel that better tomorrow when that…" She pointed to Daniel's hand that was still a vivid red and swollen, "Starts to hurt on you."

"You'll have to see the other guy, then." He gave her a wide smile.

They remained silent as the car came closer the room that the event of Grayson Global was taking place. With the storm and the great amount of cars that were arriving, the traffic was stopped.

"Are you ready for your big night?" Charlotte said, remembering of the speech he was about to give.

"I think so. We'll see in some minutes." He was nervous but still, didn't want to show it for Charlotte who was proud of him that night after so much time being away.

"Is she coming?" She looked outside the window to the cars that waited on line.

"Who?" Daniel looked at her.

"You know who." She looked at him for a few seconds, "Emily. Is she coming?"

"She's an honor guest." He said occasionally, "But I don't know?"

"Let me ask you again…" Charlotte looked at him, "You _want_ Emily to be here tonight?"

"I do." He said after a deep breath.


	24. Lies

She was by the bar for who knows how long. While it was pretty easy to get inside the Grayson Global's party without being noticed once she saw herself there, the only thing that she assumed was that she needed a drink. Or maybe two. Not that she ever was much of a drinker but on that situation, it was the only thing that came in to her mind to call her nerves down. The thought of having her mother not far away from there was consuming her. Enough that Nolan had realized just after he ordered them both drinks and went to see "if anyone had already had a breakdown", something that he considered extremely plausible since it was a party hosted on Daniel's behalf. "Nothing would fit it better", he had told her.

But she knew that he could have said just that he was leaving her for a moment because she clearly needed it. Especially after the bomb he had dropped on her on their way to the party: if she was beginning to wreck her mind about her mother, she would have to first remember that Kara Wallace Clarke wasn't _her_ mother. Not if she would still claim that Amanda Clarke no longer exists. Or at least, no longer on her figure, but on a much pregnant figure that was now living upstairs the Stoaway due to anytime soon. She couldn't put herself out for her mother. Not even for her own mother that she had just discovered to be alive after all those years. Not when she knows that there's still a chance of her, somehow, having ties with Victoria Grayson.

She could predict a massive headache coming along for the night, but nothing that could make her unaware of the slightly familiar voice that came from behind her back.

"Could you give me straight vodka?" The man asked. "And some ice."

She almost had a hard time trying to figure out whose voice it was, until she turned her body to face the person that was speaking.

"Nice accessory you have up there." She pointed out to the man that still hold something about himself that she couldn't quite figure out. "Almost match with your suit."

"A big wall and a blackout gave me this," Andrew said as he grabbed his drink and placed his cup on his bruised lower lip. "I must say that you don't seem to be much thrilled to be here this night, Mrs. Thorne."

"I don't like storms." She tried to mislead him. "Also, when you're an honor guest, it's rude to miss the event."

"Oh yes." He gave it a soft laugh. "Had already forgotten that your name was under the honors. Pretty suspicious, isn't it?"

Emily tilted her head and blinked at him. She had no idea of what he was talking about.

"I mean, Daniel personally putting your name under the honor guests when the company has him under a contract that says that he should finance every parallel project that he develops on the night that he's going public with one of these." He raised his eyebrows. "I guess he's just glad that you guys are on good terms after everything you've been through and that he can put you as one potential financer. Otherwise, he'll be cut out even before he can do anything."

How could a person that she had never seen before know this much about this kind of stuff? The man was scaring her even more with each word that came out of his mouth. Especially now that he was talking about Daniel. He had some kind of… rage on his words.

"I don't know if it's safe for you to say this kind of things…" Emily tried to be vague on her words as she picked her dry martini ready to leave the space the she occupied at the bar.

Only that her efforts were useless since Andrew came after her. Even for his busted lip, he was still holding an ironic grin on his face that did nothing on his favor. The very awkward mood that was set would be only interrupted by yet another known voice.

But, this time, the voice that called Emily's name made her freeze as she turned her body to see Charlotte pacing her way on Emily's direction holding her arms open to hug her. The moment that the two held each other Emily's expression was pure disbelief. How could Charlotte be there? She had sent her a letter on the clinic just a week ago and nothing was said of her being released.

"Thank you for all your letters." The younger said with a smile before noticing Andrew standing behind her. "Oh, I see you've met him."

"You two… know each other?" Emily turned her body to face both of them.

"How could I not? He's my brother." Then, something clicked on Emily's head. Now, things started to make sense. Nothing that could take away the surprised expression on her face. This wasn't something usual.

"Hm, technically, not." Andrew protested. "We're not blood related, don't forget this."

"He's my father's son from his first marriage." Charlotte tried to ignore said words from Andrew. "He didn't tell you that?"

"I guess that he chose not to." Emily said as she took a good look at Andrew. "Anyway, I'm so happy to see you here tonight!"

"Could we go somewhere else?" Charlotte said as she turned away looking for a place to escape. "I really want to talk to you."

"Sure, just let me grab my things." Andrew noticed that this was his cue to leave as both Emily and Charlotte started to make their way to a corner of the room.

"How did you even met Andrew?" Charlotte asked looking to where he was standing a few moments ago.

"It doesn't really matters." Emily shook her head. "I want to know why you didn't tell me that you were being released."

"It was pretty rushed and I was only allowed to talk about that with family. I mean, not even Daniel knew that I was being released today." She looked happy as she told Emily how everything happened on her last moments on the clinic. "Though, I still have to go there every week to run blood tests."

"I'm so glad that you're fine." Emily smiled at her. During the months that had led to the summer while Charlotte stayed on rehab Emily had let herself grow sibling feelings for Charlotte as she sent her get-well letters. "Are you staying the whole summer?"

"That's what I plan for. I mean, the house is now mine and Daniel's so it's better if I'm around. Especially after what happened this night." Charlotte looked away with raised eyebrows.

"What happened?" Emily frowned.

"You saw Andrew's lip, right? Daniel punched him before we came here and after that he told Andrew that he wasn't welcomed in our mother's house." She recalled, "I agreed with him. Andrew was saying stupid things about our mother."

"So I take that Daniel's relationship with him it's not one of the best ones…"

"Never was." Charlotte interrupted. "Enough that Andrew knew that you are who you are and let off the fact that he's also a Grayson."

"Good point." Emily laughed. "So, I heard that Daniel's giving a speech tonight?"

"He is and is a pile of nerves because of it." Charlotte looked concerned. "He wants to do something right. He feels that he's been doing lots of mistakes lately."

Emily knew what that meant; it was crystal clear on Charlotte's voice that she was making a reference of what went down on the same day that she was sent to rehab. Emily had accused Daniel of being a different person and now he was trying to prove to both of them that he was still the same person that now had to face some obligations.

"Has he arrived? I haven't seen him yet." Emily tried to take a turn on the conversation.

"We arrived a while ago together, actually." Charlotte had a bit of annoyance on her voice. "I just hope that he's not drinking, again. I know that he gave up on his 'no alcohol' rule lately, but he has had enough for today."

"You think that there's enough time for me to find him?" Emily looked over the crowd trying to spot Daniel. "There's something that Andrew told me and I'm not sure that he's aware of that."

"Maybe…" Charlotte said as Emily begun to walk away from her. "He's probably getting ready for his speech."

It wasn't hard finding Daniel as he was backed on a wall near where things were set up for him to give his speech. He had a class filled with a clear liquid and ice on his hands and Emily recalled what Charlotte had said about his rediscovered habit of drinking.

"For Charlotte's sake, I hope that this thing on your hands is just water." She said as she reached Daniel's side.

"Club soda, actually." He turned to face her. "Goodnight Emily. I'm glad that you received my invitation."

"Can't lie that I wasn't surprised when it was delivered by my door." Emily shook her head with the memory. "But, being one of the honor guests… you can't bail. Also, I must say that I'm curious to what you have to launch today. I've heard some interesting rumors."

"I hope that's something that will please everybody." He gave it a little smile. "Otherwise, I'm screwed."

"I must say that there may be some people in this room waiting for you to screw things up." Emily looked back to where people were still gathering.

"There always are." He shrugged. "The price of living under expectations. There are more people waiting for you to do something wrong."

"Daniel…" Emily tried to find the words to explain to him the news that Andrew had broke to her minutes ago. "Before knowing that Andrew is your brother, he told me something and… I'm not sure of what he meant."

Daniel frowned at the mention of Andrew's name. Especially with the fact that he once again was crossing the line that was reaching Emily.

"Wait… you didn't know that he's my brother? Even if you had already spoken with him?" He tried to stay calm. "Whatever… What he told you?"

"He basically said that you only invited me because you need me to invest in your project." Emily tried to make it simple. "But since when you _actually_ needed someone to invest in you, I knew that you wouldn't ask me to do it."

"What he's talking about?" Daniel looked confused. "When Ashley took care of the contract that I firmed with the company she told me that everything that I asked was there, including the ways to finance with a percentage of 2% of the company's incomings."

"Ashley took care of your contract?" Emily raised her eyebrows.

"She's been doing that since she was hired to work at Grayson Global." Daniel vaguely answered Emily's question.

"Well, I'm sure that's nothing." Emily shook it off. "I'll leave you so you can get ready for your speech."

"Emily…" Daniel called before Emily could leave his side. "Thank you for being here this night. It really… it really means so much for me."

"Anytime." She smiled at him.

She turned and immediately scooped the room to find Ashley talking with some guests not far from where she stood. She knew that the fact of having Daniel blindsided being involved with Ashley's participation wasn't some random coincidence. But, for her, was enough to put an end to Ashley's fake reign. She was getting in the way of things that she shouldn't be, especially not now that Emily needed the access of the information that Victoria could be holding about her mother. It was time for Ashley to go.


	25. Ambition

Emily pierced the crowd to reach the point where Nolan stood with his drinks. He looked at her still unsure about what was happening but this time, Emily looked focused. She only stopped when she was close enough to him so what she spoke could only be heard by him and no one else.

"I need what I asked you to hold close on Ashley." She ordered with a steady voice, "Now."

"Whoa." Nolan said with a grin, "Do I sense the smell of a take down?"

"If I want to know what Victoria has on my mother," Emily turned her gaze to where Ashley stood, "I have to be careful with who might be on my way and even if Ashley might seem harmless, I have my reasons to believe that her plays go to further places than just posing for pictures with Daniel."

"Any special event for you to believe this, may I ask?" Nolan raised one eyebrow as he took a sip of his cosmo.

"She was never trustable." Emily said in an almost whisper. "She does what's best for her, backstabbing included."

"You seem to hand pick your friends, don't you?" Nolan had his sarcasm tone on with a pleasured smile on his face.

"You think that was pure coincidence that I was friends with Ashley when I first got to the Hamptons as Emily Thorne?" Emily looked at him with a soft – yet pleased – smile. "I _really_ handpicked this one."

"I can't even imagine how the two of you met…" Nolan, now, was looking at Ashley as well.

Emily remembered it too well. A few years ago she knew that she couldn't just appear at the Hamptons overnight as a new comer who happens to be a multimillionaire out of nowhere. She had to, quietly, build a past into the high society and there was no better way to do this through some parties and taking part on a few causes. During her first weeks inside the new world that would soon become a recurrent background for Emily Thorne's persona she could spot a girl that looked as much as out of place than she was and not only because of her heavy English accent, even though she had much more style sense that Emily could ever have. The girl literally tried _hard_ to get attention. She was up to anything to get a shot inside that world. Emily observed her for a few weeks and the final word on the girl came when she asked around what the girl wanted and the most general answer was: "Just another party planner trying to climb her way to Victoria Grayson."

It was true that the girl aimed high since she hadn't ever approached Emily. But just like her ambition could lead Emily to an easier path to Victoria, Emily could put the girl on the spotlight. That's how their "friendship" started: out of pure ambition from both sides. But while Emily always knew Ashley's goals she had always been keen about her own, as usual. Her excuse to end up at the Hamptons last summer was a simple: "It will be fun to spend the summer there while you work for the Graysons." Just because she could.

She had thought that if she kept Ashley close enough she wouldn't have to bother with her. But she was too careless and kept Ashley on arms length, enough to lose control of her. After Tyler, she knew that there was no turning back. Ashley wanted more than she was getting and this was causing trouble for Emily. She knew that Ashley had her past mistakes but so did Emily. She wasn't willing to get something that was buried to come back at her. Still, luckily enough Ashley had let her ambition blind her and stepped away from the road during the past year in more than one occasion.

If there was anything that Emily had learned with Takeda was to find allies that could be easy to dispose of if she had to. To trust no one. So it wasn't a problem when Nolan checked on his phone and turned to her with a smile and the magic words:

"You're ready to go."

She nodded to him but her way to Ashley was interrupted by the suddenly dimmed lights and the announcement that requested everyone to take their seats because Daniel's speech was about to begin.

Emily rolled her eyes and spun on her heels to take her seat while Daniel stood on the place where he was supposed to give his speech. He surely looked nervous while staring to the paper that he had just unfolded. His eyes scanned the words but nothing made sense for him anymore. He took a deep breath looked over the room and folded the paper with his speech and put it inside his pocket again.

"Just a while ago, I came to learn that unpredictable moments can change your life if you're ready for them. When you least expect it, something happens – no matter how big that event is - and it will turn your world upside down." He laughed nervously. "It's not news for anyone in this room that lately, my life has been full of unpredictable moments."

No one understood the point of his speech. People remained quiet and stared at him who tried to make himself clear.

"When you go through something like that, you learn to valorize the good moments which predicted good changes." He couldn't avoid searching for Emily's eyes, "That's when you learn the difference that they could make to one's life. I've spent my whole life attending benefit balls, watching my parents while they were honored by charity but, until now, Grayson Global hasn't taken a stand on making difference on people's life. I'm here tonight to redeem us for that mistake. Today, the Grayson Foundation is officially a strong branch of Grayson Global, a part of the company that will be there to help anyone who needs it, whenever they need it."

Now, people were reacting to the news. It wasn't unexpected at all but the public at the room surely had a soft spot for charity.

"We are doing this in honor to everyone that helped us when we needed help and I'm glad to see that whenever I needed help, there was someone to give it to me. Some of these people are even here tonight." He was much more confident, "Now, we want to be the ones to help. And it would mean so much if this cause was supported by anyone who has interest on it. It's about giving someone a chance to have their life's changed."

Emily felt the words hit really close to home, as she usually would do since she saw herself involved more than she once planned to be with the Grayson family. She was one of the first guests to stand in ovation for Daniel, for something that she truly believed to be his initiative. She was finally starting to see Daniel for who he really was again and that gave her hope. He was getting back to the path that he once stood a few months ago. He had learned to work with all the new information he had about his family and was, definitely, growing up.

Shortly before the round of applause finished, Emily was already on her way to corner Ashley. She had her phone in hand and a serious look on her face. Ashley had seen her coming and didn't even try to escape, she was almost trapped and she knew that it was never a good choice to avoid Emily. She just waited for her wearing her best smile.

"I warned you." Emily said under her breath when she was facing Ashley.

"I don't know what you're talking about." For anyone who looked at them from outside, would get the impression that Ashley was having the time of her life.

"I told you if you ever crossed paths with me in the wrong way, you'd regret it." Emily looked into her eyes. "It seems like the days has come."

"I still don't know what you're talking about, honestly." She had finally toned down her smile. "I haven't done anything that I wasn't doing before."

"In that case, you're admitting that you've been backstabbing Daniel since you've got into Grayson Global?" Emily was getting irritated, "While you've been saying that you have his best interests at heart?"

"I still report to the person who actually is my employee." She still had the same expression on her face, something that she seemed to have learned from Victoria. "If there's anything of your concern, you should be asking him and not me."

"You know that it's not like that." For a second, Emily's voice almost tricked her into failing. "Daniel trusted you. You were the person that he turned to when he needed the most – even if you were the only one available to do so. But he forgets that your loyalties will always lie to the highest power."

Ashley stayed quiet. She knew that Emily was telling the truth even if she couldn't bring herself to admit it out loud. What she had with Daniel before the summer was casual at its best. He was an emotional wreck and it wouldn't hurt anything for her to be there for him. But as the summer kicked in, Daniel started to avoid her more and more and their relationship became something only for the papers, just so that people knew that everything was fine when they obviously weren't.

"So here's the thing, I can't ask you to disappear. But I'm going to ask you to stay away from Daniel. You guys don't have a relationship, there's no reason for you to keep on that after he received this amount of applauses today." She took a moment to weight in Ashley's reactions, "Stop being in the middle of his work, I don't care if it's what you were asked to do, he's trying to do the right thing, that's what should matter."

"Why should I do this?" Ashley side eyed Emily, "What happens if I don't?"

"The whole world will know that besides paying for your new car, Conrad paid your apartment in the city and stopped by a couple of times." Emily showed her a security camera video on her phone. "For the most creative minds it should be enough to say that you're having an affair with the father while dating the son. You know how this would be everywhere in a heartbeat."

Ashley knew that if any scandal like this happened, the weight of it would be all on her shoulders since she was supposed to keep track of anything like that and avoid it. She took a deep breath and gave in.

"I'll do it." She said in an almost whisper.

"You are smart, I always knew that." Emily blacked the screen of her phone and put it down. "Also, don't think that I don't know that you were the one that released the pictures to the press when Daniel was arrested. But that's past."

By the look on Ashley's face, Emily knew that she wouldn't be hanging around as if she was occupying the spot left by Victoria anymore. She could be ambitious but she had a good instinct of self preservation that could be admirable at certain point.

The pleased look on her face was undeniable when she reached the place where Nolan watched her. All he could do was laugh.

"You do that so easily." He exclaimed, "Like if you could be doing this all day."

"I can't say that's easy." She said as she grabbed her things. "But I'll do what I have to do."

"We are leaving already?" He still had a full cosmo on his hands. "I thought that the fun was just beginning."

"Yes, we need to figure out a way to bring my mom closer." She waited until he finished his drink.

"How much closer?" He questioned as they made their way out of the party.

"To the nearest Hampton's clinic." She vaguely stated. "Now that I'm sure that she's alive, I want to know where she is."


	26. Revelation

Charlotte was oddly tired from the party. She thought that it would be easier than it actually was but no matter where she was on the party, people would stare at her and the whispers begun behind her back during the whole night. Once she arrived her bedroom, she couldn't even bring herself to undress from her party gown. Instead, she simply laid down on her bed staring at the roof.

When she felt the need to move her body she felt a piece of paper under her body that she hadn't noticed before. She reached for it and searched for the light that came out of her window so she could read what was inside of the previously folded paper.

"_So proud of you and your brother._

_See you soon."_

She froze at the sight of the handwriting. She had received many notes like that since day one of rehab but the last one was delivered to her two weeks before she was released. Without giving it much thought, she got up and – trying to make any sound – made her way to the pool house.

"Danny." She almost whispered while knocking on his door. She knew that he was still up since his bedroom lights were still on. "We need to talk."

He was surprised to see her that late in the night, considering how exhausted she looked on their way back home. "Can't sleep?"

She felt a rush of guilt coming through her body with his concern and kindness towards her once he welcomed her into his bedroom.

"Kind of." she sat on the edge of his bed beside him. She had no idea of how she would start explaining why she was there. The pressure of the paper inside her back pocket didn't make things easier.

"I can't either." He said in a laugh. "I'd say that I don't know what a whole night of sleep is for almost a whole year now."

Daniel waited to see if Charlotte would light up to his little joke about himself; instead, it looked like that she wasn't even listening giving how tense she was. He put a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to raise her attention.

"Charlotte." He said softly. "What happened?"

She closed her eyes and tried to hold back the tears that suddenly flooded her eyes. All she did was reach for her pocket and placed the manila folded paper on Daniel's lap. He scanned it once. Twice. Three times before he could wash the panic that grew on his face away and say something.

"It's…" He took a breath before finishing his sentence, "mom's handwrite."

"She's alive, Danny." Charlotte said in a plea. "And I think that she plans to come back."

Daniel only nodded in agreement. It meant that whatever was the reason that she had to stay in hiding wasn't an issue anymore. Both the siblings were avoiding each other's gaze. They knew that their eyes could give them away.

"I wanted to tell you, Danny. I really did." It sounded like a flat apology.

"When you received this?" He was holding himself better than Charlotte expected.

"Tonight." She saw her brother grow a furrow. "Why?"

"Because you're making it sound like this happened way before it." He was trying to sound rational. "I say that because a little after I last visited you in rehab, I received a call."

Daniel was more serious and Charlotte turned her body to face him, which was still looking straight to the wall.

"It was a guy claiming to be from the FBI, now I don't know about it anymore." He took a second to think about it before continuing. "He said that was taking care of mom and that she wanted to see me."

Daniel couldn't put the events that took place that day on a timeline. Most of it was a blur. So he was just hoping that Charlotte didn't ask for details because he was sure he couldn't give them to her.

"He said that she trusted me with that kind of information, since you were unreachable in rehab and she didn't want to jeopardize your recovery." He looked up to remember better the words more clearly, "She was on the witness protection program and they needed me to go to the place that she was…"

"Wait. What?" Charlotte exclaimed interrupting Daniel and raising his attention. "Witness protection program? Since when?"

Daniel couldn't catch a grip on Charlotte's words. If it once sounded like none of that was news to her, now he was sure of it.

"What do you exactly know?" Daniel wasn't his calm self anymore. Charlotte could sense his break down coming along.

"Mom has been sending me these since my first day of rehab." She was looking down to her hands. "Sometimes, she would send me coded letters – just like she did when I was a kid – to update me on what happened. In one of them she mentioned doing an agreement with the ones responsible by the plane's explosion, once she figured out what they were up to. The agreement was made under the condition that she would hand them every piece of evidence that dad had on them. After it was resolved, she'd be free and promised that we would have a new life."

As she finished, she closed her eyes. She knew that Daniel was pissed, she could sense it by his increased breath frequency.

"You knew it all this time?" He twisted the sheets of his bed in a way to contain his anger. "This is not the kind of thing that you keep to yourself!"

"No, Danny!" She protested. "I couldn't tell you! Mom could be in danger."

"You played me! You played me when you had promised me that you'd be honest with me." He raised his voice from the calm tone that he was sustaining. "I could've helped! You know how tired I'm of these things happening when I'm trying to put other's interests before mine."

"I'm sorry." Charlotte whispered. "I regret it now."

"Do you know how it feels?" At the same time that Daniel was angry, he was disappointed with Charlotte. The tone of his voice was the evidence of it. "I've spent all this time worrying about how you would react to it…"

"It's not like you didn't know anything, Daniel…" Charlotte tried to put some reason. "And you didn't tell me anything."

"What was I supposed to tell you?" He got up and faced her. "That mom was alive but she only bothered to share it with me as an emotional blackmail? And that all of that happened when you were being kept away from exactly this kind of troubles for your own health?"

Charlotte could understand his reasons but, still, wanted him to understand hers. "But Daniel…" She tried to begin with but Daniel quickly raised his hand for her to stop.

"Not now, Charlotte." He put both of his hand on his face and rubbed it. "I need to be alone, please."

She got up and left the pool house letting the tears, that once filled her eyes, now stream down her face. Instead of going back inside the manor, she took the opposite direction and went for the beach. She knew that sleep would be impossible and staying inside the house would only suffocate her. She needed to be anywhere but there right now.


	27. Torment

On their way home, Emily had managed to make Nolan confess that the video wasn't the only information he had gotten about her mother. He had also her medical records, which she was willing to go through the night reading it. Nolan had also promised her that no one had seen them, that he only received the encrypted version of the archives and he was the responsible to decode them. She thanked for his help after asking him to have her moved to a Hamptons' clinic. He assured her that he would do his best but asked her to be careful because – as obvious as it seemed – he was sure that there was more behind her mother's story than just the fact that she spent part of these years on recovery clinics. His condition to leave the house was that she promised him that she wouldn't do anything out of impulse.

"Not today." She smiled at him. Even if she liked being alone, she was truly glad about Nolan's concern. "You're the one who should be careful."

Now, she was wrecking her brain trying to remember what happened on each date of the entries from before she was told that her mother was long gone. She could remember her mother being rushed to the hospital many times when she was little. All she understood out of it was the fact that her mom was sick, period. But she never actually understood how she was sick if she looked perfectly fine. Now, everything was clear. She would be constantly rushed due to control the dose of her anti-psychotics. This went on until she was finally put into a clinic. Emily searched for the papers that detailed what happened that day.

A long statement described how her mom was diagnosticated with schizophrenia but it was being aggravated by other kinds of mental disorders and a high tendency to have illusions and that was basically the reason why she was put into the clinic: a powerful illusion that triggered an anger attack. All of that happened while Emily was sleeping next to her when she was just 5 years old. Her mother had woken up in the middle of the night, not knowing where she was or even recognizing her own daughter and ended up trying to suffocate the child with a pillow. The minor was saved by the father, who interrupted the act.

Emily read the story looking for details that could connect her. Something, anything that could spark a memory; but everything was still a blur for her. All that she was sure about was that, after that day, her father came to tell her that her mother was dead. She was very ill, tried to take her medicines by her own, ended up taking more than she needed and died. An accident, was what he had told her.

She remembered being at her aunt Charlotte's house when her father came bringing such news. She had a hard time accepting it, but happened to come around after David gave her some pep talk. He told her how she would still be alive in her heart and that no one could ever take away from her.

After that, her mother was kept on clinics even after her father died. This made her stop and wonder. If, for her, Kara Wallace was dead, someone had to know that she wasn't. More than that, someone had to make sure that she wouldn't be a loose end on her father's trial. It was the moment where a scene played back on her mind: Her mother claiming that "Victoria Harper" had promised to take care of Amanda. The woman obviously made a meaningless promise, but it shinned a light for Emily. Things were getting clear now.

If when she saw the surveillance video from Grayson Global where Victoria, Conrad and the White Haired Man talked about Emily's mom none of that made sense, now it was becoming clearer. If there was anyone with the power and the meanings to be keeping Kara locked away under no one's suspicion, it was the Initiative. And, for them, it never was interesting having Victoria dead. She held many of the loose ends in all of that mess, with her gone, the liability factor for them would certainly increase. But it doesn't mean that it wouldn't be interesting to make her _look_ dead, all under their control. It was hinted for her more than once when she was digging for information but she had conventionally – for her own sanity – let it all go.

Once she realized such thing, she threw the files across the room. If, at first, she was decided to be ruthless on her path for revenge, lately, she was leaving things aside more often than not. She wasn't as focused as she once was anymore. She had created her own distractions and kept on pretending that they were important just because she was trying to avoid facing the truth.

Her breakdown was interrupted by a noise that came from her porch that put her in alert. She reached for the drawer that kept her gun and left it on easy reach while she tried to look beyond the windows to see what was going on outside. She scooped the surroundings of her house until she spotted a figure sitting on the stairs that led to the beach. Due to the darkness, she couldn't recognize who it was, what made her to, carefully, get closer to the door that connected the house with the porch. Once the figure became clearer Emily let out a breath of relief. Even so, she was worried about the reason that brought the person to her house so late at night.

"Charlotte." She called as she put a coat on while going her way. "What's going on?"

"Emily…" The girl turned to her looking scared. "I must've woken you up. I'm sorry it's just that… It was the only place that I could come right now and…"

"It's ok. You didn't wake me. I do have some sleeping issues of my own." She sat beside her. "But, why are you here? It's late."

"Daniel and I got into an argument." She said with a tired voice. "I couldn't stay home."

"Why?" Emily absentmindedly said. "You guys were in such a good spirit earlier."

Emily watched as Charlotte hesitated and buried her face on her hands. "It's fine." Emily brushed her hand against Charlotte's back.

"My mom is alive." Charlotte finally said with her voice muffled by her hands.

"I know." Emily said supportively. "Daniel ended up here after he got to know. He could barely form a phrase."

"That's not the thing." Charlotte raised her head. "Actually, it kind of is. He's mostly upset because I knew it for a longer time, since I got into rehab."

"You have to understand his side." She grinned a bit. "He's just worried with you. He feels like, right now, he's responsible for you but he might have some problems with dealing with it under this kind of pressure."

"He's scared." Charlotte added.

"Probably. Who wouldn't be?" Emily wondered. "He never had to deal with this kind of responsibility."

"It's not that." The scared look was back on Charlotte's face. "He's scared because he was blindsided. Mom's coming back and he couldn't anticipate it."

"What?" Now, Emily was blindsided too. "Victoria is coming back? When?"

"I don't know." The girl stared at the horizon. "Rather sooner than later, I guess."

Emily didn't know what to do. At the same time that she despised Victoria more than ever, she couldn't help but truly caring for her children. They were far from guilty about everything that happened but, at that moment, they are the ones suffering the most from the outcome of the events that took place earlier that year. They were put on a crossfire that didn't belong to them but, eventually, they would get shot.

"It's just… disappointing." Charlotte's voice was weak.

"But it's exactly on those moments where you and Daniel need to stick together." Emily gave her a comforting smile. "He's your brother. There's no need to put those things between the two of you."

Charlotte looked down to her feet taking in everything that was happening. She knew that the responsibility over Daniel was bigger now and things – that had already changed – were only destined to take another spin with the return of their mother, especially after he was finally getting a grip on his life again.

"It's late." Emily was getting tired and could see how exhausted Charlotte looked. "You should go home. Tomorrow you and Daniel can talk it off and put on a clean slate."

"You're right." The girl got up with Emily and hugged her before stepping down the stairs. "Thank you."

After Charlotte went away, Emily couldn't even remember how she had gotten upstairs to her bed. But, if there was one thing that she remembered vividly, was her nightmare. Victoria was back and knew everything. She had taken everyone away from her once again: Amanda, Jack, Nolan, Charlotte and Daniel. They all were going after her like if they were on the Inquisition and she was being held for witchcraft. After they finally got ahold of her, Victoria approached her laughing and disclaiming how naïve she could be thinking that all of her plans were ever working against her.

"All that you have ever gotten in your life is because you deserved it." The woman said harshly while Emily couldn't move or speak. "And your father? I loved him. I really did. But he was weak enough to not stand by himself when he claimed to know as much as he did on those journals and if he never sought for redemption then, is because he simply accepted what came for him. So why can't you let it go, Amanda? Now you're destined to an even more tragic destiny than his."

The only thing that interrupted Victoria's speech was the annoying sound of her phone vibrating on the desk next to her bed. It wasn't the first time that the woman visited her in her sleep and she would always wake up tense from it. The influence that she had on her was intense even on her imagination.

She forced her sleepy eyes to read the caller id. Blocked number. She hesitated before answering.

"Yes?" She tried her best to shake the sleepiness off her body.

"Oh, little Amanda, you should've known. I warned you." Said the voice that, on the past months, became more familiar to her. "I think you understand that we're not pleased at all with your little sneaking around your mother's subjects – even though, I knew that you were soon getting to it. But, we've decided that we're fine with your idea of having her moved to the Hamptons."

"Gordon Murphy. That's you." She had seen the name multiple times on her mother's records but only now she realized who the face that matched the name was.

"Don't bother with formalities." He said ironically. "Though, I'm sure that you understand how you might have turned a few wrong rocks on this path of yours. Those rocks might have released some enemies that you were considering gone by now."

"Victoria." She didn't sound as surprised as she thought she was. "You obviously had her all this time."

"Someone has to keep an eye on Kara." He ignored her conclusion. "After all, who knows what she's capable of, right?"

* * *

**A/N: **So, I'm seriously trying to find a decent ending to this fic. Even if I like her, I kind of don't like how the facts that are actually happening on this new season are beginning to influenciate on where I'm taking it and it turns out that I'm starting to feel a little out of ideas, because I was hoping to leave it a bit apart from the show, and I don't think it's fair from me to leave it without an ending. So, if you guys have something to say about how you think this will end and all, review, please! I'm willing to hear everything you have to say :)


	28. Smoke

**A/N:** So, I FINALLY got out of my sort of blocking for this story. I want to apologize the time I took to update it and say THANK YOU to the ones who took some of their time to review it. I hope you guys (still?) like it and maybe give me some feedback about?

* * *

Emily woke up with a gasp and for a heartbeat she could make herself believe that everything that had happened last night was nothing but a really bad dream. But the sound of helicopters flying over her house and vans coming up and down her street confirmed that it was true.

She placed her index fingers over her temples. If things once were bad, they were nothing compared to this. Her phone was glowing on the floor right next her bed. It was at the same place that she threw it before blacking out from the stress the night before. The screen showed a few missed calls and a couple of voice mails from Nolan. She had told him everything that happened, including Gordon Murphy's call but after that, she didn't want to hear or talk about it anymore. She got the device to hear what Nolan had to say while she looked over her neighbor's house over her window pane.

"Ems… Just… Stay calm. Alright?" A very nervous Nolan pleaded on the message. "I'm on a few things and, well, I think I might be on something."

She tapped the screen to hear the another message.

"Ok, somehow the press has known Victoria's come back since around the time that _you_ called me. Their tip came from a room at the South Fork Inn…" She could hear him tipping. "According to their records, who made it was… Woa. Andrew. I wonder how he knew about Victoria before her own children."

She tapped her phone before the message really ended. "Nolan, what else do you got?"

He had barely answered to know that, at some point, she was doing fine.

"Well… There's something interesting, I must say." He knew that she wasn't up for games nor either of them had time to it. "There's a woman with the same last name that Andrew has, appears many times on the hard drive that we got encoded. It's safe to say that she is Andrew's mother, Conrad's first wife."

"But what does it mean, Nolan?" She wasn't getting the grip of Nolan's thought.

"I cross checked some dates. It turns out that their divorce came _after_ Conrad and Victoria met." He wanted to be sure that Emily was following. "Meaning that Conrad was no rookie on _Lydia-gate_ and that probably explains the bad blood between him and Daniel."

"I still don't get it." Emily was confused about how relevant the information that Nolan had gathered was.

"What first linked Conrad with the Initiative was his first wife, Andrew's mother. She brought them to him shortly after they got divorced and about the same time that Victoria was pregnant with Daniel. At first, it all seemed like a company with the greatest intel ever, giving directions to where Conrad's money should be and when. But, it soon was revealed as some treacherous choices that were coming back at him. And, the rest, you know…"

"So it was all part of a revenge plan from Conrad's first wife to get back at him for cheating?" Emily was still trying to connect the dots.

"I guess you're not the only one with a revengenda around here…" Nolan was pleased to say that. "And that basically answers us of how Andrew knew about Victoria… His part of the family didn't cut ties with the Initiative like the Graysons tried to do."

"So… Andrew _works_ with the Initiative?" She went straight to the point that was still a blur in her head.

"Yes." Nolan was short. "I mean, I can't confirm it because we don't have the access to Initiative's board or anything like that but, it's safe to assume that it's what's happening and I highly doubt that Conrad or Daniel know about it."

"Damn." Something clicked inside Emily's head. "It was not Ashley who changed Daniel's foundation contract. It was Andrew. He is setting Daniel up."

"What are you saying?" Nolan was the one to feel confused now.

"Daniel's contract with Grayson Global, when he came up with the idea for the foundation, was changed." She took a breath. "Instead of it being fully financed by the company's incoming, he is supposed to attract independent investors. Andrew mentioned this to me and Daniel said that Ashley was the one taking care of the paperwork, but it turns out that it was all Andrew."

"And it means that…" He was still trying to follow her insight.

"Daniel's in danger." It sounded worse out loud. "All this thing with Victoria is only smoke and mirrors. Daniel's name is involved with the foundation, he's responsible for everything that happens in there but he probably doesn't have an idea of what's really happening."

"What are you going to do?" He was also worried, but not exactly with Daniel, but with what Emily had on her mind.

"I need to get him out of there." It didn't sound like a plan to her, because she didn't have one. "Convince him to cut ties. This time, for good."

"But, how? Emily, he already chose his family once. He made his choice." Nolan wasn't fond of her ideas. "He knows what's going on – or at least part of it – and I don't see him jumping off the ship that easily. Especially if you throw something like this at him."

"You're probably right." She sounded defeated. "But he has the right to know what's in stake for him."

"And how you plan in telling him that?" She could tell that Nolan was trying to be reasonable for both. "You're going to reveal yourself to him? And go all 'oh, hey, I'm Amanda Clarke, I've been collecting evidence against your parents so I can raise hell on their lives. But I don't want anything bad to happen to you or to Charlotte – since she is my sister. So do you want to see what I have to show you?' You know you can't do that!"

"I can't do _that._" Emily was finally coming up with a plan. "But, I can tell him that I have my own resources. That should be something."

"Then what?" Nolan still wasn't buying what Emily was proposing.

"We play along." She said in a simple way. "We can't say that after this, everything will be the same. The Initiative is out again, it could be my only shot."

"Ok." He gave himself up. "When do you plan telling Daniel?"

"Today." Suddenly, she felt confident. "The sooner, the better."

"Just remember that you both might be in danger, ok?" Nolan gave in. "Especially your secret. That guy, Gordon Murphy, knows it. There are real chances that Andrew might know it as well."

"I don't think so…" Emily took a second to take it in. She hadn't thought of it just yet. "There's something about Murphy, he kept his space during this whole time… He knows that I have substantial evidence, he wouldn't risk it."

"You better be sure of it." She knew that Nolan was just trying to be reasonable. "Because it might not be only Daniel that's being played."

"I will be careful." She assured him before hanging up.

The truth was that she had never considered being played by Gordon Murphy. At the same time that she had evidence on him, he knew who she really was. More important, he was close to her mother. With that, she knew that her feelings about having her mother close to her were more mixed up than ever. It had been so long since she had last seen her that she actually didn't have the memory so clear in her head. She remembered the video that Nolan showed her. Her mother had tried to hurt her and was having difficulty in having her thoughts straight.

Maybe, just maybe, knowing that she was being well treated should be enough for her. What kind of harm would do to her if she knew that there actually was someone going under the name Amanda Clarke around there? It wasn't even fair to Amanda to have to deal with this kind of situation. Wanting to be close to her mother was selfish of her in so many ways, especially when things could go from bad to worse in a matter of a heartbeat.

It made sense what Nolan said about it setting her up. She was doing exactly what Gordon Murphy was expecting her to do. He set up the bait to her and she was following it and it took her this long to realize it. That she had enough evidence to bring him down, but not the bigger fishes and that was probably the reason why he didn't do anything to reveal her secret.

She gave herself a moment to set her mind straight. It wasn't the ideal to keep her safe distance from Gordon Murphy anymore, it was rather risky. At any false step, he could turn everything around. The fact that he had control of her mother issues wasn't that much of a matter anymore now that she had convinced herself that it was safer if she kept her distance and just assured that she was being treated in the right way. But, she had to find a way to make him vulnerable again and, then, make sure that he wouldn't bother her anymore. Ever again.

Andrew probably was the perfect connection that she needed. But, she would need Daniel's help. She hated the feeling of using him as a mean to get what she needed. Again, she was being selfish. But, in some disturbed sort of way she was trying to help him. At least was what she was trying to convince herself of.

Andrew wasn't that balanced to be in the position that he was. Whatever that meant. He was probably just being a pawn for his mother to get inside the Graysons, especially after they got shaken up by everything that happened on winter. Even though, she had her doubts of how high were Andrew's mom position to influence anything into the Initiative but they should be enough to assure her direct connection to them.

Her plan was rather simple, at first. Take advantage of all the façade they created with Victoria's kidnap and sudden appearance to disqualify Andrew, in order to make Gordon Murphy get out of the place that he was hiding. Then, take him down and pin it on Andrew. It shouldn't be that difficult if everything went how she saw in her head but, still, it was risky since it involved other people services into it and those people could get hurt. Seriously hurt.

"Collateral damage." She exhaled while she typed a text message to Daniel.

"_Need to talk with you. Meet down the beach?"_

A few minutes later, her phone vibrated with the answer.

"_Meet in 10."_

She took the time to change her clothes and head down to the place they usually hung out. She sat down and waited for him, who took a little longer than the 10 minutes that he had promised to get there.

"I'm so sorry." He apologized before even getting next to her. "But it's terrible up there. My mom…"

"It's fine." She smiled at him. "I know. Charlotte told me last night. When I woke up to the sound of helicopter paddles, I assumed it had really happened, after all."

"Oh… yes." He had almost forgotten his fight with his little sister. "We talked this morning, you know? I apologized."

"You look exhausted." She didn't mean to say it out loud. But she couldn't help but notice also, he was even wearing the same clothes he had on the gala on the previously night, except that the suit and tie were long gone by now.

"Haven't slept." He gave her a crooked smile. "Around 4 a.m my father got a call. Not even two hours later, he was arriving with my mom at home. Half an hour later, our driveway was packed with reporters and I've spent my morning questioning the staff to find out who leaked the information to them."

"Don't bother." She looked up at him. "It wasn't them. Nolan traced down the tip to a call from the South Fork Inn."

Daniel just gave her a questioning look, what made Emily continue her thought.

"Andrew." She was trying to read Daniel's expression. But he looked tired even to react to it. "Somehow, he knew and tipped the press before the gala. They've been into it since then."

"Why?" He said avoiding her gaze. "Why are you looking into these things, Emily? It's dangerous."

"Because I care." She answered, looking for his eyes. "I still do. Especially after Charlotte told me what happened, I got worried. You know, I didn't forget how scared you were on winter before your mother disappeared. It started to make sense after you opened up to me…"

She truly looked worried. But he still had his jaw clenched.

"I've asked you." He had the same scared look he had when he opened up to her before. "I've asked you to stay away from it. You don't have any idea of how dangerous this could turn out to be, Emily!"

"I can't stay away, Daniel. I'm already involved." He finally looked at her. "Besides, I don't want to stay away from it. If it is dangerous for me, it's even more dangerous for you."

"But I owe my life to it. It's different." It was never easy for him to just pretend that it was a common thing. "If it wasn't for it, for this… _thing_, I'd still be in jail and God knows what might have happened there."

It wasn't like it was easy on Emily. If Daniel was ever arrested, it was her fault. She had dragged him into her plans when he was innocent and helped framing Victoria's henchman for Tyler's murder. It was the pivotal point for everything that Daniel ever believed change.

"You don't have to live with that guilt, Daniel." She still despised the fact that he backed his father up when he had the chance to come clean about everything but she was trying to see the reasonable side of it. "Let me help."

"What else do you know?" He knew that if he was pushing it that way, she had more in her sleeve.

"Not much, actually." She did, but he didn't need to know it yet. "But I think that Andrew might have been trying to set you up."

"How?" He folded his arms on his chest.

"He was the one who changed the foundation deal. Like, really changed it." She began to explain. "What he told me at the gala about you having to find private investors to give its funds… He is trying to make it look like a way to embezzle money for other activities and have you framed for doing so."

"But…" He was trying to make sense of it. "What kind of activities?"

"Well, if Victoria's kidnap was related to the plane bombing…" She made it seem like it was just a logical line of facts that she was following. "And the fact that he knew enough to tip the press before you and Charlotte knew anything about its outcomes'… I can only think that he's somehow related to what happened…"

"With David Clarke." Daniel completed her sentence.


	29. Questions

They stood there for at least an hour going through everything that Daniel knew about Andrew and, especially, how involved he was with the Initiative and how they could expose him. Emily, casually, planted the seed of her intentions on involving Gordon Murphy on this whole process.

When Daniel stood up to leave, she noticed how tensed he was with the whole situation and softened to him.

"Hey." She called him out, "I think that my house is a better option if you want to get some rest."

He turned to her and took a deep breath. "I know that we're on good terms but I honestly don't think it's a good idea."

"Come on." She reached for his arm. "I'll be out for the day. You'll have the house for you. It's really nothing and you need to get some rest."

He analyzed her face for some seconds. "I actually don't have any options against this, do I?"

"No." She smiled at him.

* * *

After she left Daniel at her house, she went over to Nolan's to check out if he had any progress that morning.

"Nolan." She called out from the door after Big Mike let her in – Nolan had rehired his former body guard to be his house guard.

"Over here." She traced the voice coming from his wide living room.

He was furiously typing on his laptop until he finally turned the screen to show her what he was working on.

"Data from the neglected Grayson child computer." He grinned at her. "He has been accessing some really weak wifi connections. Also, he has some minor tasks as an Initiative proxy. Wonder what would happen if someone dropped this on Grayson's door… with Mr. Gordon Murphy's signature. If there's anyone who could make him come out from hiding, this title belongs to the Graysons."

"What kind of information he has?" She scanned the screen looking interested. "By the way… Daniel knows that Andrew is involved. I told him."

"I'm not the one calling the shots here. If it's fine for you, I don't have any objections." Instead, he was rather surprised at how Emily was able to trust in Daniel enough to share a plan with him on the open. "Anyway… Andrew has the instructions of what should have happened if Victoria's kidnap didn't work. We could twist it to make it look more of a part two."

"And it would be…" Emily asked as Nolan begun to type again.

"Expose Conrad." Nolan smiled at the screen. "Adding a taste of what we have, it would be something like… this."

Emily glanced at the screen where a whole threat against Conrad was materialized in front of her. Everything he had done at some point of his life was there but it was carefully handled to make it look like he had done it alone. It was just a fair warning to guarantee his silence. Emily didn't even looked at Nolan before she hit the send button.

* * *

Conrad was at his study planning how they would play the outcomes to the press when his laptop glowed with the anonymous e-mail. When it became clear what it was about, he ordered everyone to stop what they were doing and leave the room. He called out for Victoria and showed her what the message was about to, then, call his team back to the room.

"We're going to expose Victoria's kidnapper." He said coldly. "We didn't want to do it at first because we wanted to move on from it but I see that's going to be necessary. Call the sketch artist."

"Conrad…" Victoria called for his attention. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm sick of those bastards." Conrad wasn't showing any emotions. "If he wants to play dirty, I'll play dirty and carry him to hell with me."

"In this case…" She got closer to him. "We'll have to sacrifice both of us in order for this to work."

"I always knew that you were smart, darling." He answered ironically.

"Turns out that I want these people away from my children more than I want to avoid you." She gave him a pleased smile and turned to the team that was waiting for their next command. "Call Andrew Cooper, also. I'll give him my exclusive on what happened."

Soon, people around them were working on all the arrangements to break the story on a positive light for the Grayson family. Victoria was making sure that all the details were in perfect synchrony for all the team while she gave the directions for the sketch artist. If she was getting rid of the people that were infecting her family for way too long now, she would do it in high style and wouldn't admit any flaws. Her children were set to live their life without having to worry about cleaning after the mess that she and Conrad put their through. Even if it meant that she would live in a particular hell for God knows how long. It was the price she was set to pay for her sins.

* * *

It was easier said than done. Emily's house sure always have been a safe haven of his since the first day that he set foot on there with her. He felt like home in there, but he couldn't bring himself to shut his eyes and sleep. Not even for a nap. There was a lot going on his mind. At the same time that he was glad to be able to open up with Emily, he was intrigued about she was so suddenly interested and had so much information about what was going on.

He couldn't help but scan her room, her house after anything that could justify it all. Was she being threatened? If so, why didn't she tell him? He even called the chief of security from Grayson Global to ask him if there was any way of him to tell if her phone was being tapped, but it all seemed clean.

He had his head buried into his hands, wrecking his mind around everything that was going on. When would he imagine that his life would be that way? He had barely finished business school from Havard – from which wasn't that easy having it finished in a hurry so he could get to the board room on this summer – had already been engaged, had the engagement broken… Nothing was ever stable for him. He was never "just Daniel", always "Daniel Grayson" the heir of the Grayson empire.

He always overlooked all those things. It was easier for him to live that way. For him, ignorance was a bliss. Why would he get involved if all he ever wished was to find a loophole and get out of everything? He wouldn't also feel guilty like he was feeling right now. He didn't know Andrew that well, or if he had any motive to be doing what he was doing.

He wiped his face with his hands. If this was set to last longer than this, he would probably go crazy before it ended. When his vision was back to normal, he noticed that Emily's cabinet wasn't properly closed. He got up and tried to close it, but something from inside was keeping it open.

Annoyed, he opened it to find what Emily usually kept there: receipts from the food market and her gun. He grabbed it, checked to see if it was loaded and gave it a light chuckle. He could easily forget that Emily wasn't that defenseless and – more than once – had surprised him with the tricks she had up her sleeve. He returned it to its place and looked over to find what was keeping it stuck until he noticed a stash of papers that were almost hidden on the bottom of the lowest shelf. He just turned them, so they could fit better on the space that they had available when he saw Grayson Global's logo on the top corner of the first sheet. He picked the whole file up to see that they were detailed transactions from the company through some random years. There was some from the 90's, a few from 2002 and from all of the months of the present year. He frowned as he passed the papers away. How Emily got those? Only members of the board had access to it, and where the company was concerned, Emily wasn't more than a sponsor for his charity. There was no way she could get access to those. Even more importantly: Why she kept the records for those random years?

Daniel organized the pile and returned it for their shelf and finally closed the cabinet. He sat on one of the kitchen island chairs and kept on staring to the cabinet. More questions were flooding his mind but one thing kept coming over: It was the first time that he ever questioned Emily. Not some random attitude from her but _everything_ she had ever done. He tried to convince himself that he was being paranoid, even if a lot of moments came back rushing his mind when they begun to not fit anymore like they used to.


	30. Mirrors (Final)

Daniel had to take a pain killer to keep his head from pounding against his skull. The relaxing effect from the drug helped him to take a brief nap. As soon as he woke, found a piece of paper and a pen to write Emily a little note thanking her for what she had done to him. He headed straight to the city since he wanted to be away from the manor and it would be the ideal place to find what Emily was after.

He wasn't on his most composed state ever. What made it even worse for his secretary as soon as she had the sight of her boss walking into the room.

"Don't bother. For any effect, I'm not here." He said as he passed the doors. "Please, do not transfer any calls and if anyone comes asking, I was never here. I just might need you to fetch a few documents for me."

He closed the doors of his office and turned the computer on. For once in his life he was glad of what his reckless days led him to: he knew Conrad's password thanks to a prank that he planned on doing but was fast convinced otherwise after the sight of a shiny new car. He searched for the hidden files of the dates that he saw on Emily's house. 1992, 1995, 2002 and 2012. For the first couple of dates, some of the results came up as "under investigation". Those were the ones that he looked closely on. The values from Conrad's documents had a few differences from the ones that were on the company's database. On another ones, there were names that kept popping up on their payroll. Every Ben Kingsly campaign had the Grayson name involved. Victoria's charity were a strong supporter of Dr. Banks' books – not only that, but also a place for "the recovery of foster children". Lydia Davis was the secretary that approved all those dubious transactions. Bill Harmon was also a part of the hidden values.

Every piece of information that was either suspicious or that shed some light on the rather confusing events that took place on the past year, Daniel had scribbled on a sheet of paper. All those names and events at some point had links one to another and all of them ended being tied up by one man who seemed to be the origin of it all: David Clarke. They all were involved with David Clarke's trial and bad thing happened to almost all of them in one summer – almost 10 years after David Clarke was killed.

What wasn't crystal clear yet was the reason why Emily was invested on those people. It wasn't likely that any of them had any links to the Initiative – what she confessed to be in search of any leverage left behind. He searched all he could find on the mainstream media in order to find something that could help him to shed some light on what happened back in all those years. But, the deeper he went, only one person seemed to have all the inside details of all the parties involved: Mason Treadwell. Daniel wasn't keen of him since he decided that his case last year was the perfect opportunity for the journalist to seek for his moral redemption. But his curiosity spoke louder so he had a successful try on getting in touch with the man.

"Well, I must say that I've been waiting to hear from you…" His voice sounded as miserable as ever. Since he had his house burned to the ground, he had done exactly nothing for his career. "If there was anyone that I expected to grow interested on this subject, that person would be you."

"What are you saying?" Mason spoke like it all was too obvious for more explanations.

"Correct me if I'm wrong." He said briefly. "But I suppose something sparked your mind – just like it happened with me not that long ago – and you just thought 'what if?' and, as it seems, came to me as your last resource."

"So, do you have any answer?"

"I may have." He sounded cheerful for the first time. "But the thing is: I still don't know what you're after. Are you ready for the raw truth or just the pretty parts of it? Tell me what you got, Daniel."

He saw himself telling Mason, a journalist who could just be playing him for his next big story, everything that he knew.

"I hope that you know that none of it is actually news for me." But he wasn't bored. He had some excitement on all of it. "But you need to ask yourself the right question: are you after what your ex-fiancée is after or are you looking for _the reason_ she's after it?"

Daniel hadn't thought about that yet. It was just something that he wasn't expecting to find from Emily. Just then he realized that Emily had told him that she was looking into something but never explained why she was so interested.

"Yes, I see." Mason laughed at himself. "So, tell me, you tied all these people to David Clarke. But, for God's sake! The man is dead! And, still, they – just like myself – were dragged into misery last year after some strange events. It only lefts us with someone else who could wish such thing to happen, right?"

"Amanda." He whispered. "Is Emily trying to help her?"

"Oh, no, Daniel!" Mason had a loud laugh at it. "You just confirmed to me what I was suspecting since your trial got an end: Emily Thorne is not Emily Thorne. She is Amanda Clarke."

* * *

Daniel hung up the phone worse than he was before calling Mason. Then, he was in simple denial that it could have anything to do with that kind of conclusion. But the evidence was crystal clear: Ben Kingsly, Dr. Banks, Bill Harmon… They all were ruined even before the woman who claimed to be Amanda Clarke had arrived town. Even so, he wasn't angry. He was numb. Deep down, he could understand her and, hell, if he had the chance to change his own name to leave the past behind and start over without anyone to judge him, he would do it. It also explained why she got invested in everything so easily instead of just walking away from it: she couldn't let go. She was probably just trying to understand her own father and what happened to him. He did a quick research on what happened to her after David Clarke was arrested, just to find that not everything she told him were lies. She did go to juvie, after bouncing into the foster care system.

In some twisted way, he related to her. Both of their lives were defined by the choices that these people made and they had no say about it. Finally they had the chance to do something. He had so much on his hands at that moment. All the evidence needed to make a difference was there. If he acted fast enough, he could put it in the out before his parents' interview started. He was done with all the collateral damage this case brought recently and was willing to get the hold of his life back, this time for good.

* * *

Gordon Murphy wasn't a man easy to track. Emily and Nolan knew this very well. One more time, they saw themselves staring at a computer screen trying to get hold of the man. In theory, this time should be easier since he was exposed, probably on the move and had a few targets on his back. While they didn't have any sign of their slight stalk, they looked forward to listen to what Victoria had to say. The circus was already set and going strong on the direction of turning everything in her favor – one more time.

Meanwhile Emily dodged reporters that insisted that she had anything to say about the case. Nolan spent his whole day looking both FBI and Interpol's database for any updates. So far, they were only putting them at risk and walking on an unknown territory that could reveal to be really treacherous if they made one wrong move. The rumor mill was going strong as the time passed by: the word on the street was that the group known as The Initiative already had their next move set and were about to act really soon. It was all up to the Graysons interview. They would do a tell-all or, once again, they were just the pieces of a masterplan.

"Uh… oh." Nolan said at one moment.

It turned out that none of the rumors were actually true. Or would be happening anytime soon.

"I don't like the sound of that." Emily tried to see what was on his computer screen.

"Unless the plan is having Andrew on the latest update of the most wanted list for domestic terrorism is under the plans… nope, it's not good." He showed the recently updated list to her.

"No, none of this is on the plans." She scanned the names. "Not only Andrew. Every single person that I suspected to be involved with it all are in there. Even the big fishes."

"But how did that happened?" Nolan searched through the information to see if he could find an answer to his own question. "It was an anonymous tip that led them on."

"Daniel." Emily stood up in a hot second. "He has access to what is needed to put this people there. Fuck. Where's Andrew? Call Southfork Inn. I'm going to the city. Daniel said he would be there."

"Jesus, Emily, breathe." He turned to his screen again. "The Grayson suite is empty. It had a check out about an hour ago. Andrew must have felt that he was in trouble. If he really is going after Daniel, you are not going to make it in time."

He had never seen Emily so hopeless like that. She was just frenetic while pacing back and forth in front of him.

"I can have a helicopter ready in ten minutes. Take it. Big Ed will be waiting for you in New York. Go."

Emily tried to think of what she had to get but her mind was spinning fast. When she got herself together, she was already up in New York air with the cold metal of her gun against her waist. It didn't take much until they were landing on NolCorp's rooftop where Big Ed was waiting for her.

"Miss Thorne, are you ok?" He helped her out of the aircraft.

"Hm, what?" She snapped out of her mind. "Yes, I'm. Listen, Ed, I'll be down at Grayson Global. You don't need to go in there but if I don't get out of there soon, you better check out."

Ed didn't ask any more questions, Nolan probably told him to do so. As soon as she got out of NolCorp's doors, she wasn't far from Grayson Global's building but, from there, it seemed a long run to go.

* * *

Just after the FBI agent got out of his office, Daniel felt lighter. He was sure about what he had just done, just like he was well aware about how the investigation would happen from there. It turned out that the Initiative wasn't just responsible for downing the flight 197 but a few other events that their "managers group" were involved on financing to get more money back after it was done. Basically, none of that people had done anything, but they pulled their strings for everything to happen.

Once he got out of the room, he realized that it was way past the working hours and the place was empty. Not even security was around. It was a sign that Grace had done her job just like he told her to do so. The quietness felt good while he looked down at the street and, for the first time since he got arrested, started to think about the future. He had no idea how he was going to deal with the whole Emily/Amanda situation, but as far as the girl who was under the name of Amanda Clarke at the moment was raising a child in Montauk with Jack Porter, he assumed that there wasn't much to do. Both girls had made lives for their own under the other's name and it looked like there was no turning back now.

As a matter of fact, at this point, the name was less important of it all. He had never thought of her past by that point of view. He knew what she told him: she was a foster child after her parents died, went to juvie, inherited their money once she turned 18 and went to explore the world before wanting to set some roots. Now, he knew that her roots are settled on the house that once was owned by her father and that was about it. Still, he couldn't bring himself to not love her. The whole person that she showed to be all the time that he knew her dazzled him. It was like she completed him, she was the reason he was doing all that. She made him a stronger man, one who had motives to fight for something. With her, he was a better version of himself.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a slamming door that came from down the hall. He walked a few steps so he had a better sight but it was all dark.

"You son of a bitch!" The guy walked hurried steps on his direction. "It obviously was you. Trying to be the hero. The knight in a shining armor."

"Cut your crap out, Andrew." Daniel tried to reach the phone to contact the security.

"No, Danny. You are not going to call them." Andrew loaded the gun that he had aimed at his half-sibling. "Actually, we are going for a stroll on the roof."

Andrew guided him with the pointed to the back of his head while they went upstairs to the 15-story building.

"Come on, look down." Andrew's forehead was wet with sweat, what made his hair stick on a good portion. "No one cares for you. You have the whole Wall Street down there and not a single soul cares for you."

"You are insane." Daniel counted his steps so he didn't get to close to the edge of the building. "Don't you see? You got it on yourself! I did nothing."

"That's right." Even with the ironical tone, Andrew agreed with his head. "But at least now I have the excuse to kill you."

"But you don't have the guts to do it." Daniel teased. He could feel that the gun was slightly shaking.

"I don't have anything to lose!" Andrew walked to his front, facing him. "As you said, it's my choice."

* * *

Just as Emily was crossing Grayson Global's front doors, her earpiece announced the call from Nolan. She clicked on to it to answer.

"I hope that the news that Gordon Murphy was just arrested makes you happy." He said before any other word.

"It does." She quickly replied. "But something's wrong in here. Nolan, do you have access to Grayson Global's security?"

"So, that's the bad news." He tried to break the news in a good way. "Andrew is in there, he used his passcode to get to the upper levels. But their system is offline at the moment."

"Fuck. Can you try to give me access to the elevator?" She asked when she turned to the corner where they were located, worried about the lack of security guards on the reception.

"They are probably unlocked." Nolan didn't even have to answer before she was in one of them and pressed the 15 floor button.

"Nolan, stay there." She pressed the earpiece again once the elevator arrived at the last floor. She grabbed her gun and scooped the room quickly. "Daniel?"

No one answered. She looked inside his office. His things were still there, his phone, his wallet were all on the table. She looked around until she saw the door that led to the stairs to the roof opened. Carefully, she went step by step up trying to figure out what the voices that came from there were saying. She slowly opened the door that gave access to the place where both men were, trying to not make any sound. From there, she had the sight of Daniel, dangerously close to the edge of the building, but she couldn't see Andrew, until his voice gave his position away.

"Drop you gun, Andrew." She said as she pointed out her gun to him. "It's over."

"Miss Thorne!" He didn't take his gaze off Daniel. "I see you decided to join us. I'm not surprised."

"I'm not kidding." She said as she stepped closer to him. "Drop it."

"Stop right there. One more step, I shoot him." He placed his finger on the gun's trigger. "It's not amazing how she always seem to be on the right place, the right time, Danny? Have you ever thought about that?"

"I did, actually." He looked at Emily. She was pale and her lips were blue due to the strong wind on the top of the building.

"And don't you think that it's suspicious?" He teased her. "The girl is also skilled."

"It could be." Daniel turned his gaze back to Andrew. "But it's none of your business."

"Andrew, I'm not going to say it again." She loaded her gun. "The police is coming over. You're not getting away with it."

"I know." He shook it off and for the first time looked at her. "The thing is: I really don't care."

Daniel took the time that Andrew looked away as a cue to run towards him, trying to knock him down. When he was just a few steps to get to him, there was a shoot. Emily swore to herself that she hadn't pulled the trigger as her finger was almost frozen over there. Just then that she saw that Daniel stopped and collapsed on the ground.

"NO!" She shouted and shot Andrew on his knee.

She dropped her gun on the floor as she ran to Daniel and dropped on her knees beside him. He was shot next to the stomach and was bleeding a lot.

"Hey." She whispered. "I'm here. Everything is going to be fine."

"Hello." He gave her a weak smile.

"This is going to hurt, ok? But stay with me." She said as she applied pressure on his wound. She pressed her earpiece with the other hand. "Nolan? Tell Ed to come to Grayson Global roof. Daniel was shot."

"He's getting there. I'll tell him where to go." Nolan said as she turned the device off again.

She sat next to Daniel so he could put his head on her lap to get more comfortable. His lips were getting pale and she was getting terrified. She had dreamed a few times about the Graysons paying her on the same coin, but that dream never had the face that was lying down on her lap that moment. Tears started to stream down her face and splashed on his shirt.

"I'm sorry, Daniel." She mumbled. "Please, forgive me. Please."

"No." He told her with difficulty. "I have nothing to forgive you for."

"You do." She didn't even try to dry her tears. "This. All of this, is my fault."

"No, it's not." He placed his hand on the top of both of hers that were on his wound. "It was your right. I'm setting you free."

"What?" She tried not to sob. "You are in deliration."

"Not yet." He was still his charming self. "I just want you to know that I understand you. And, more importantly, I still love you."

"Daniel…" She finally realized.

"Stop, listen." He tried his best to his face to hers. "I want you to know that this is still yours."

He grabbed the engagement ring that was on his pocket since the moment he found out the truth that evening.

"I'm not asking you to marry me or anything. Especially now." He looked at her bloodied hands. "But we're more alike than you probably ever thought. I feel like you are the other part of me. Don't ever forget that I love you, for who you really are."

Just as she took the ring from his hands, the paramedics stormed the roof to rescue Daniel that was quickly placed on a helicopter to take him to the hospital. Emily flew with him but, as soon as the doctors started to work on his wound, he was unconscious.

Nolan was the first to arrive at the hospital, only to find Emily staring at the ring on her still bloodied hands. He didn't even care for her personal space and hugged her since she looked shocked.

"He knows." She said while Nolan embraced her still body. "He knows the truth."

"What?" Nolan let her go. "That's why he gave it to you?"

"Yes and no." She looked at Nolan. "He gave me this because he said that he still loves me, no matter what."

"So that means…" He took the chance and tested her. "That he's on our side?"

"Who knows?" She gave him an unhappy smile. "Maybe he's not at any side at all. Considering that he will make it."

It wasn't the first time that the eminence of Daniel's death shook Emily to her core and her real feelings would usually come through on that kind of situation, just like the first time that she faced it. Nolan knew that her feelings for the Grayson boy were strong and, now more than ever, she would struggle with them in order to get her peace of mind.

"He will."

He comforted Emily as tears started to roll down her face once again.

* * *

**A/N: That's it. C'est fini. That's also how I wished this season had ended. Daniel knowing the truth sounds much better for me since he has this volatile personality. He isn't the "goody two shoes" but he isn't a bad person as well. Things can always go either ways with him.  
Don't even get me started on how the idea of Emily falling for a Grayson would be a better idea.** **History repeating itself when her father fell for Victoria. She still wanting revenge against his parents but trying not to hurt him or Charlotte along the way... It would bring more angst, tears, drama! Hahahaha**

**I hope you guys like it. I know it took me so long to finish it and I'm sorry about it. But I had no idea how I would get here until it started to unveil in my mind. I'm happy with how I ended it. Now, I'm wishing for a better third season because it still is one of my favorite shows around. I just want Daniel to have a good storyline, I don't want to see him standing behind his father again since it was already played out this season. It's time to have some changes. That's what I want to see.**


End file.
